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The role of government (to be continued)

In everyday society governments provide such services as national defense, police, public education, firefighting services and administration of justice. So governments spend part of their revenue on these particular goods and services.

Governments finance their expenditure primarily through taxes collected from households and firms. In the UK the government takes nearly 40 per cent of national income in taxes. By taxing the rich and making transfers to the poor, the government ensures that the poor are allocated more of what is produced and the rich get correspondingly less.

We focus on government for a number of reasons. One is that taxes, government expenditures on goods and on transfers, and government regulations all affect the way private markets work. Markets free of government intervention function well in some respects and function poorly in others.

What ought to be the role of government in the economy? The following economic responsibilities are best fulfilled by government: