Fiscal illusion Mourao (2008) attempts to quantify fiscal illusion empirically for almost 70 democracies since 1960. Fiscal illusion Fiscal illusion is a public choice theory of government expenditure first developed by the Italian economist Amilcare Puviani in his 1903 book "Teoria della illusione finanziaria" ("Theory of Financial Illusion" (not yet translated into English, but translated into German in 1960 under the title "Die Illusionen in der öffentlichen Finanzwirtschaft", Berlin: Dunker & Humblot, 1960)). Fiscal illusion suggests that when government revenues are not completely transparent or are not fully perceived by taxpayers, then the cost of government is seen to be less than
Four-letter word Four-letter word The phrase four-letter word refers to a set of English-language words written with four letters which are considered profane, including common popular or slang terms for excretory functions, sexual activity and genitalia, terms relating to Hell or damnation when used outside of religious contexts or slurs. The "four-letter" claim refers to the fact that a large number of (but not all) English "swear words" are incidentally four-character monosyllables. This description came into use during the first half of the twentieth century. Common four-letter words (in this sense) that are widely considered vulgar or offensive to a notable degree