Fiscal Challenges

Preface; Part I. The Law and Politics of Fiscal Policy: Introduction; 1. The Congressional budget process William Dauster; 2. Budget gimmicks Cheryl Block; 3. Transparency in the US budget process Elizabeth Garrett and Adrian Vermeule; 4. European experiences with fiscal rules and institutions Jurgen von Hagen; Part II. Understanding Federal Deficits and Public Debt: Introduction; 5. Perspectives on federal deficits and debt Michael Boskin; 6. Counting the ways: the structure of federal spending Howell Jackson; 7. Starving the beast: the psychology of budget deficits Jonathan Baron and Edward McCaffery; Part III. Budgeting and Fiscal Constraints at the State Level: Introduction; 8. Budgetary arrangements in the 50 states: in search of model practices Juliet Musso, Elizabeth Graddy and Jennifer Grizard; 9. The calculus of constraint: a critical review of state fiscal institutions Tracy Gordon; 10. When does the ballot box limit the budget? Politics and spending limits in California, Colorado, Utah, and Washington Thad Kousser, Matthew McCubbins and Kaj Rozga; Part IV. Intergovernmental Aspects of Budget Policy: Introduction; 11. Dysfunctional or optimal institutions? State debt limitations, the structure of state and local governments, and the finance of American infrastructure Barry Weingast and John Wallis; 12. Federal-state budgetary interactions David Super; Part V. Judicial Powers and Budget Policy: Introduction; 13. New property, entrenchment, and the fiscal constitution John Harrison; 14. Courts, constitutions, and public finance: some recent experiences from the States Richard Briffault.