Government Case Studies - The 'governments'

This case study looks at the sort of policies that governments of different political persuasions might want to adopt, and the effect that different policies have on their ability to achieve these.

You need to choose which type of government you want to consider, and then go to the policies page and choose which policy you want to look at. You then need to go on to the results and issues page to consider the effects of your policies.

The governments

There are two types of government considered here; a left-wing and a right-wing government. Below is a brief summary of their views on various issues:

	Left-wing government	Right-wing government
Government expenditure	This government wants to ensure that there are extensive and high quality public services. It will spend as necessary to achieve this. It is particularly concerned about education and health. It would rather that public transport was all government run.	This government argues that many government activities can and should be done by the private sector. They aim to reduce expenditure as far as possible. They want to encourage the uptake on private health schemes and private school places. They would like to see the transport system privatised to make it as efficient as possible.
Income tax	This government will raise income tax if necessary to cover the level of expenditure. However, they do not wish to raise it too far as they are aware that this may cause a disincentive to work hard. They would try to reduce lower rates and increase higher rates to redistribute income.	This government would always aim to reduce the level of income tax as they believe it is a disincentive to effort. They would aim to reduce all tax rates. They would argue that cutting top rates is vital to allow risk-takers to keep more of what they earn, and therefore encourage enterprise.
Economic management	This government would aim to actively use their fiscal policy to manage the level of demand in the economy. They would also use interest rates to control inflation. They would agree that inflation was the most important economic target, but would also manage policy to keep unemployment as low as possible	This government would only use fiscal policy as a long-term tool. They would always aim, where possible, to cut taxes and government expenditure. They would use interest rates as the main tool of economic management.
Benefits	This government would keep benefits at a reasonable level to ensure an adequate standard of living for the disadvantaged.	This government would consider cutting the level of benefits to increase the incentive for people to move off benefits and into work.
Indirect taxes	This government would aim to keep indirect taxes down as they are regressive and so will hit the less well-off harder.	This government would argue that there should be a shift from direct taxes to indirect taxes as it believes it is better to tax people on what they spend rather than what they earn.