Bowie State University

PUAD 524

Public Budgeting

Instructor: Dr. J.E.D. Riggs

Office Hours: One-half hour before class and by appointment.

Texts:

Course Description:

If it is true that an army travels on its stomach, it is equally true that a government travels on its budget. Budgeting is quite simply the heart and soul of the governmental process. In this course we will investigate how budgets are made; who are the actors involved, and the many processes and plans utilized. We will examine how revenues are raised as well as the Micro and macro economic concerns enter into the equation.

Course Objectives:

1. The Politics of the budgetary process.
2. The political and economic environment of budgeting.
3. The methods of budgeting along with their strengths and weaknesses.
4. The theory of modern taxation policy.
5. The crisis of revenue and public demands.
6. Alternative sources of revenue enrichment.

Course Policies:

There will be a mid-term and a final exam. The mid-term will fall on the Sunday afternoon of the second weekend and will cover all readings and lectures to date. The final will fall on the Sunday of weekend four and will cover all readings and lectures from the mid-term on. Each exam will constitute one-third of your total grade.

The remaining third will be determined by an original term paper of no less than 15 pages. This paper should investigate a policy of the student's choice from a budgetary perspective. By the Saturday of weekend two, I expect each student to present to me a paper topic sheet. This sheet will tell me three things:

1. The actual topic (e.g. welfare reform since 1996).
2. The approach (e.g. a case study of three states and their attempt to reduce their welfare roles: success or failure).
3. A sample citation of the literature to be used.

In addition, each student will be required to give a 15 minute presentation to the class on the subject of his/her paper. This presentation will constitute 10% of the paper's grade.

Reading Assignments: