PS 446 The Politics of Public Budgeting in the U.S.

An examination of who gets what and why in American government decisions about how to raise and spend the public’s money. Federal, state, and local government budgeting will be discussed. Because public budgeting is both a technical/administrative and a political endeavor, the evolution of budgetary policymaking by elected officials and the evolution of budgetary execution by public administrators will be compared and contrasted in this course with an eye toward understanding how well the foundational assumptions of early 20^th century public budgeting scholars and practitioners have held up as we enter the second quartile of the 21^st century. Has the assumption that public and private budgeting theory and practice are identical held up? Has the assumption that the politics of public budgeting can and should be separated cleanly from public budgeting administration held up? Particular topics within this historical/conceptual framework may vary depending on instructors’ interests and specialties.