Estimating the Subsidy Element in Public Expenditure

Abstract

Described in brief in the last chapter were British industrial and regional policies since 1960. It was pointed out that policy-making in the area of domestic distortions was very much a matter of learning by doing. Changes in policy following changes in government resulted as often from re-evaluation of existing techniques as from ideological differences between political parties. Discussion now turns to the examination of the distribution of subsidies among industries; since problems vary in size and importance from industry to industry, both objectively and in the subjective evaluation of policy-makers, an uneven distribution of government largesse was to be expected.