Government expands during crises and recedes only partly afterwards, so each emergency leaves a permanently larger state.
Higgs's 1987 argument from the two world wars and the Depression. Distinct from the Soviet-planning ratchet listed separately: the mechanism here is that emergency powers create constituencies.
In practice
- Emergency powers taken in a crisis are renewed, then made permanent, then used for purposes no one contemplated.
- A temporary reporting requirement introduced during a funding scare becomes the standing template.
- Standing
- Distinct from the Soviet-planning ratchet effect listed separately.
- Subject
- Law & Politics
- Essay
- What can be proved and measured about power