Economic functions the government should perform and, how effectively they are being performed

Introduction

Last Sunday’s column sought to make the argument that, despite the fact government activity in the economy is so huge and  it operates as a drag, impeding economic performance and growth, there are at least eight economic functions that the government is best situated to accomplish.  It is expected that government would provide these.  Four of these were considered last week and in this week’s column I will refer to the remainder.

To recall, the four areas we have considered so far include 1) national defence and the preservation of the rule of law and due process;