Fiscal Challenges: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Budget Policy

by Elizabeth Garrett , Elizabeth A. Graddy , Howell E. Jackson

• ISBN13: 9780521877312
• ISBN10: 0521877318
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-01-07
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Fiscal Challenges: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Budget Policy brings together leading experts from a range of disciplines to explore the problems of budget policy. The authors, including top economists, political scientists, historians, psychologists, and legal scholars, together provide a unique, multidisciplinary introduction to the subject. In addition to in-depth analysis of congressional budget procedures and the economics of federal deficits and debt, Fiscal Challenges explores important recent developments in budget policy at the state level and in the European Union. The goal of the volume is to offer readers wide-ranging perspectives on the many different academic disciplines and perspectives that bear on the evaluation of budgetary procedures and their reform.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Garrett is the Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, Political Science, and Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California. She is also the Co-Director of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics. Elizabeth A. Graddy is a Professor of public policy and political science at the University of Southern California and the Senior Associate Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs in the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning, and Development. Howell E. Jackson is the James S. Reid, Jr., Professor of Law at Harvard University. His research interests include financial regulation, consumer protection, and federal budget policy.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Contributors	p. xi
The Law and Politics of Fiscal Policy Introduction	p. 1
The Congressional Budget Process	p. 4
Budget Gimmicks	p. 39
Transparency in the U.S. Budget Process	p. 68
European Experiences with Fiscal Rules and Institutions	p. 103
Bibliography	p. 130
Understanding Federal Deficits and Public Debt Introduction	p. 139
Economic Perspectives on Federal Deficits and Debt	p. 141
Counting the Ways: The Structure of Federal Spending	p. 185
Starving the Beast: The Political Psychology of Budget Deficits	p. 221
Bibliography	p. 242
Budgeting and Fiscal Constraints at the State Level Introduction	p. 249
Budgetary Arrangements in the 50 States: In Search of Model Practices	p. 251
The Calculus of Constraint: A Critical Review of State Fiscal Institutions	p. 271
When Does the Ballot Box Limit the Budget? Politics and Spending Limits in California, Colorado, Utah, and Washington	p. 290
Bibliography	p. 322
Intergovernmental Aspects of Budget Policy Introduction	p. 329
Dysfunctional or Optimal Institutions? State Debt Limitations, the Structure of State and Local Governments, and the Finance of American Infrastructure	p. 331
Federal-State Budgetary Interactions	p. 366
Bibliography	p. 396
Judicial Powers and Budget Policy Introduction	p. 399
New Property, Entrenchment, and the Fiscal Constitution	p. 401
Courts, Constitutions, and Public Finance: Some Recent Experiences from the States	p. 418
Bibliography	p. 446
Index	p. 451
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