国际货币基金组织学者坦兹(V.Tanzi)和舒克莱切(L.Schuknecht)在《美国经济评论》总第87卷第2期上撰文指出,最近几年,人们对政府在经济中应该扮演怎样的角色展开了热烈讨论。政府究竟应做些什么?公共支出在国民经济中应占多大份额?政府是否应该从事直接生产活动?这种争论在所谓的“福利国家”(特别是欧洲福利国家)、转型国家以及一些发展中国家则更为激烈。 作者指出,在80年代中,基于意识形态的、推动政府扩大财政作用的压力已经在一定程度上减弱,很少有人再主张工业国家应增大其总支出。扩大支出的压力,现在明显地来自于既得利益而非公共利 International Monetary Fund scholars T. Tanzi and L. Schuknecht, writing in the 87th issue of the American Economic Review, point out that in recent years, people should be aware of the government’s role in the economy What kind of role played a heated discussion. What should the government do? What share of public expenditure should be in the national economy? Should the government engage in direct production activities? The debate is between so-called “welfare states” (especially European welfare states), transition countries and some developing Countries are more intense. The author points out that in the 1980s, the pressure of ideological-based promotion of the government’s fiscal expansion has weakened to a certain extent. Few people once again claim that industrialized countries should increase their total expenditures. The pressure to expand spending now clearly comes from vested interests rather than from public interests