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Chapter 9. Federal Spending. Chapter Outline. A Primer on the Constitution and Spending Money Using our Understanding of Opportunity Cost Using our Understanding of Marginal Analysis Budgeting for the Future. Federal Spending as a Percentage of GDP. A Primer on the Constitution.
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Chapter 9 Federal Spending
Chapter Outline • A Primer on the Constitution and Spending Money • Using our Understanding of Opportunity Cost • Using our Understanding of Marginal Analysis • Budgeting for the Future
A Primer on the Constitution • “No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law;..” • Both houses of Congress must pass identical bills • President must sign or have veto overridden
The Budget Process • President sends Congress a proposed budget • Congress passes its version of the budget (the president does not have to sign or veto) • Congress passes Appropriations Bills • President signs or vetoes Appropriations Bills • Tax Law changes must originate in the House of Representatives
Shenanigans in the Process • Pork-Barrel spending guided by important committee chairs. • Conference committees meet to settle differences between House and Senate versions of the appropriations bills. • Members of conference committees often add provisions that were not in either bill to help their constituents.
Dealing with Disagreements • When dealing with a disagreement • Congress can give in to the president • The president can give in to the Congress • They can stalemate and shut the government down • They can pass a Continuing Resolution • Continuing Resolution: a bill passed by Congress and signed by the president that allows the government to temporarily spend money in a fashion identical to the previous year
Using Opportunity Cost • Crowding Out: the opportunity cost of government spending is that private spending is reduced • Money spent on one government program can not be spent on another
Mandatory vs. Discretionary Spending • Mandatory Spending: those items for which a previously passed law requires the money be spent • Examples (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, variety of welfare programs, interest on the debt) • Discretionary Spending is on those items for which a previous law does not exist.
Using Marginal Analysis • The question of the size of government • The optimal size of government is where the marginal benefit of the last dollar taken from the private sector and placed in the public sector equals its marginal benefit. • The question of the distribution of government • The optimal distribution of government spending is where the marginal benefit of spending on one program equals the marginal benefit achieved in all other programs.
Budgeting For the Future • Baseline Budgeting: using last year’s budgeted figure to set this year’s budgeted figure • Current Services Budgeting: using an estimate of the costs of providing the same level of services next year as last