Description
Book SynopsisProvides a comprehensive account of how conflicts over taxes, spending, deficits, and debt have shaped American political development from the nation’s founding until today.
Trade Review“Ippolito’s analysis of the budget process is an important contribution to the literature on the American budget process. It is unquestionably one of the best books on the subject, similar in scope to Aaron Wildavsky’s classic The New Politics of the Budgetary Process (1988). Overall, Why Budgets Matter: Budget Policy and American Politics is an excellent historical account of the federal budget process, and it is intended for a general adult reading audience.”
—Patrick Fisher,Perspectives on Political Science, on the first edition
“This book is without doubt the best analysis yet written of federal budgeting from the late eighteenth century to the present. . . . The subject matter of this splendid book should therefore be of immense interest to students of political history and public policy.”
—Iwan Morgan,Journal of American History, on the first edition
Table of ContentsContents
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Chapter One Perspectives on Budget Policy
Chapter Two The "Small Government" Era (1789–1860)
Chapter Three Budgeting for Government Growth (1860–1915)
Chapter Four The Transition to Modern Government (1915–1940)
Chapter Five War and Defense Budgets (1940–1970)
Chapter Six Social Welfare Budgets and Deficits (1970–1990)
Chapter Seven Reconciliation and Balanced Budgets (1990-2001)
Chapter Eight Destabilizing Budget Policy (2001– )
Selected Bibliography
Index
