Small government

Small government is government which minimizes its own activities. It is an important topic in libertarianism and classical liberalism.

In Australian politics, the Labor Party has traditionally been perceived as the party of big government, while the Liberal Party is the party of small government. Of the 34 advanced economies, Australia's revenue is the ninth lowest, and spending the seventh lowest.

The former Prime Minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, wrote the book From Social State to Minimal State (Danish: Fra socialstat til minimalstat) in 1993, in which he advocated an extensive reform of the Danish welfare system along classical liberal lines. In particular, he favors lower taxes and less government interference in corporate and individual matters.

However, since then, Rasmussen has repudiated many of the views expressed in the book, moving towards the centre-right and adopting environmentalism.

Hong Kong has followed small government, laissez-faire policies for decades, limiting government intervention in business. Milton Friedman described Hong Kong as a laissez-faire state and he credits that policy for the rapid move from poverty to prosperity in 50 years. While some argue that since Hong Kong was a British colony and Britain was not a free market, Hong Kong's success was not due to laissez-faire policies. It should be noted that during its colonization of Hong Kong, Britain implemented the policy of positive non-interventionism in regards to Hong Kong, which led to its economic success.

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