Endogenous Ratcheting

Interests and Ideas in State-Centric Crisis Response

By Mikayla Novak

This article appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of The Independent Review.

Midjourney

This paper uses the systems-oriented approach of economist Richard Wagner to build upon Robert Higgs’s contributions to illustrate how crises are produced and, in turn, legitimize the ratcheting of larger governmental size and scope over the long run. Key to this micro-foundational contribution toward ratchet effect theorizing is the opportunistic blending of interest-oriented activity and ideational-moral argumentation by creative actors to entrench crisis period rents and privileges.

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Mikayla Novak
is a senior fellow in the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

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