Deficit Politics in the United States

Dennis S. Ippolito is the Eugene McElvaney Professor of Political Science at Southern Methodist University. His most recent book on budget policy was a revised edition of Why Budgets Matter: Budget Policy and American Politics (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2015), the first edition of which was published in 2003. His other books on budget policy include: Deficits, Debt, and the New Politics of Tax Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2012); Budget Policy and the Future of Defense (National Defense University Press/Institute for National Strategic Studies, 1994); Uncertain Legacies: Federal Budget Policy from Roosevelt through Reagan (University Press of Virginia, 1990); Hidden Spending: The Politics of Federal Credit Programs (University of North Carolina Press, 1984); Congressional Spending (Cornell University Press, 1981); and The Budget and National Politics (W.H. Freeman, 1978). In 2010, he received the Aaron B. Wildavsky Award for Lifetime Scholarly Achievement in Public Budgeting and Finance from the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management of the American Society for Public Administration.

List of Figures and Tables

Preface

Chapter One: From Balanced Budgets to Deficit Politics

Chapter Two: From Deficit to Surplus—The Reagan-Clinton Transition

Chapter Three: From Surplus to Deficit—The George W. Bush Presidency

Chapter Four: Stabilizing the Deficit—The Obama Presidency

Chapter Five: Raising the Deficit—The Trump Presidency

Chapter Six: The Future of Deficit Politics—And Why It Matters

Selected Bibliography

Index