Data taken from Tanzi: Ludger Schuknecht, Public Spending in the 20th Century: A Global Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2008); and Vito Tanzi, The Economic Role of the State in the 21st Century. Originally published in Cato Journal, 25(3) (Fall 2005), pp. 619 © The Cato Institute. Used by permission. OECD, ‘Social expenditure update: Social spending is falling in some countries, but in many others it remains at historically high levels’, p. 1. <www.oecd.org/social/expenditure.htm>. 2014 Index of Economic Freedom ‘Explore the Data’ (The Heritage Foundation, 2014).

List of illustrations