Public Choice: Why Politicians Don’t Cut Spending

Benjamin Powell

Benjamin Powell is the director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University and a professor of economics at the Rawls College of Business. Previously he was an associate professor of economics at Suffolk University and a senior economist at the Beacon Hill Institute. Powell’s research interests include public choice theory, housing economics, political development, and political economy. He holds a B.S. in finance and economics from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and a Ph.D in economics from George Mason University.

Why did politicians cut a trivial amount of money in the recent budget agreement? Prof. Ben Powell explains why politicians don’t cut spending, as a general rule. Using public choice economics, or the economics of politics, he shows how the political system naturally leads to overspending.

For more, visit Learn​Lib​er​ty​.org.