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[ti:The Cost of Government]
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[00:01.49]Lesson 36
[00:03.47]The cost of government
[00:11.31]What's the most important factor, both in government or business,
[00:16.09]for keeping running costs low?
[00:21.11]If a nation is essentialy disunited, it is left to the government to hold it together.
[00:27.54]This increases the expense of government,
[00:30.39]and reduces correspondingly the amount of economic resources that could be used for developing the country.
[00:38.13]And it should not be forgotten how small those resources are in a poor and backward country.
[00:44.84]Where the cost of government is high, resources for development are correspondingly low.
[00:51.79]This may be illustrated by comparing the position of a nation with that of a private business enterprise.
[00:59.32]An enterprise has to incur certain costs and expenses in order to stay in business.
[01:05.98]For our purposes, we are concerned only with one kind of cost--the cost of managing and administering the business.
[01:15.75]Such administrative overheads in a business are analogous to the cost of government in a nation.
[01:23.13]The administrative overheads of a business are low to the extent that everyone working in the business can be trusted to behave
[01:31.01]in a way that best promotes the interests of the firm.