Constituency Size and Government Spending

Abstract

In the economic model of government, the size of the legislature is a variable whose effect on government spending is not predictable a priori. The authors show that an alternative measure, constituency size, defined as the number of constituents per legislator, is positively related to state government spending. This suggests that increases in constituency size over time may account for the increase in the size of government. The size of the legislature could be manipulated to control constituency size and thereby provide an effective check on government spending.