Poster Session
How has Congressional Action in the Budget Process Impacted National debt levels in the United States?
Location
Memorial Ballroom, Hall Campus Center
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Entry Number
44
Start Date
4-10-2019 12:00 PM
End Date
4-10-2019 1:15 PM
College
Lynchburg College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Political Science
Abstract
Examining the growing federal deficit of the U.S. government is important because it could impact our economic environment by reducing spending and investment in the United States. I plan to research the effects of recent laws that have altered the budget process or aimed to increase fiscal responsibility in the United States and evaluate their contributions to fiscal responsibility. The debt-to-GDP ratio is a statistic that will be utilized to measure fiscal responsibility. By measuring how much a country produces domestically against how much it owes, scholars can gauge how able a country is to repay its’ debt. I will incorporate this statistic into a OLS or linear regression analysis of the national debt over time, in order to identify the contribution of independent variables including entitlement spending, unemployment, public opinion, and political polarization. John Maynard Keynes proposed that deficit spending can spur an economy into action during times of hardship, while Art Laffer and Jude Wanniski supported supply-side economics, which argued that the government could increase revenue by cutting taxes. This theoretical split only adds to the problem, as economists and politicians have not reached a common ground in regard to federal taxing and spending. I expect to find that outside forces, including political polarization and pork barrel politics, have a significant impact on the rising debt levels in the United States. Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of past budgetary laws should enable progress in fiscal responsibility.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Timothy Meinke Dr. Dan Lang Dr. Beth Savage
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How has Congressional Action in the Budget Process Impacted National debt levels in the United States?
Memorial Ballroom, Hall Campus Center
Examining the growing federal deficit of the U.S. government is important because it could impact our economic environment by reducing spending and investment in the United States. I plan to research the effects of recent laws that have altered the budget process or aimed to increase fiscal responsibility in the United States and evaluate their contributions to fiscal responsibility. The debt-to-GDP ratio is a statistic that will be utilized to measure fiscal responsibility. By measuring how much a country produces domestically against how much it owes, scholars can gauge how able a country is to repay its’ debt. I will incorporate this statistic into a OLS or linear regression analysis of the national debt over time, in order to identify the contribution of independent variables including entitlement spending, unemployment, public opinion, and political polarization. John Maynard Keynes proposed that deficit spending can spur an economy into action during times of hardship, while Art Laffer and Jude Wanniski supported supply-side economics, which argued that the government could increase revenue by cutting taxes. This theoretical split only adds to the problem, as economists and politicians have not reached a common ground in regard to federal taxing and spending. I expect to find that outside forces, including political polarization and pork barrel politics, have a significant impact on the rising debt levels in the United States. Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of past budgetary laws should enable progress in fiscal responsibility.