| Summary: | The aim of this paper is to discuss the substance of macroeconomic aggregates thatarecommonly used inempirical researchto expressthe size of government. Although public sector aggregates normally provide a basis for the assessment of the size of government, there are broader aggregates that capturethe scope of government more realistically. Thispaper presents the relevant statistical concepts,the current state of methodology, as well as discusses the degree of instability in existing methodologyand its effect on the robustness of empirical research findings and recommendations. In addition, this paper, on the basis of currently available data, demonstrates the extent of the differences between these statistical concepts in terms of monetary values as well as numbersof employees. The results not only show that the size of governmentis much largerthan estimated, but that it can also have far-reaching consequences forboth economic policy and economic research.
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