The Problem of Government Size and Necessity of Extracting the Country's Governance Map

The problem of the optimal size of government has been one of the oldest historical disputes among many thinkers in the field of governance, and a variety of views have been raised and theorized in the broad spectrum between the minimum and maximum government. However, the inherent evil of a large or small government is essentially a misunderstanding of the size of government and what matters is the effectiveness and efficiency of the government and its realization by extracting the country's governance map, proportional to the specific circumstances and requirements of Country. It seems that one of the reasons for general prescribing about determining the optimal size of governments is the lack of attention to the various dimensions and components of the size of the state. However, if there is a comprehensive view of the size of government, it is possible to prescribe specific policy recommendations in relation to each of the dimensions and components of the size of government appropriate to the circumstances of the country. The present paper seeks to provide a clear picture of the dimensions and considerations of the problem of size of government in order to gain a proper understanding of the concept of size of government. Accordingly, the most important considerations about measuring and comparing the size of governments with a focus on the Iranian situation is categorized and discussed in six considerations: dimensions of budgetary, non-budgetary, Enterprise and human resources, subsidies of energy carriers and exchange rates, and different levels of government.