Nonetheless, in the five years prior to the current crisis, which were marked by very favourable cyclical conditions, government spending still outpaced GDP growth in most industrialised countries.
In fact, this trend was more pronounced in the US and Japan – where the average growth rate in government spending exceeded the average nominal GDP growth rate by 1½ and 2 percentage points respectively – than in the euro area where this difference only amounted to around one quarter percentage point.