If one takes the issue of the amount of services rendered by government, than the share of income argument loses some force, particularly given the spectacular rise in income, on average, in the last two centuries. Remember, few people in the colonial period had any cash income to speak of, but were subsistence farmers supplementing their diet by hunting and engaging in barter for other needs. This rise in income has depended, at least partially, on the the provision of roads, promotion of railways, establishment of land- grant colleges, promotion of research, establishment of institutions promoting financial stability, and other such things that helped commerce and the rise of industry along.
I have no idea if privacy is less or greater than it was, say, a hundred years ago. As for property rights, again, I do not know how to assess when so many people are homeowners whose ancestors were share- croppers or lived in tenements.
Perhaps we have had some backsliding, but the overall trend has been pretty good. |
