Class Nine -- January 13, 2017

In today’s class, we will explore inter-governmental interactions in budgeting. The two principal readings are chapters from Fiscal Challenges offering institutional perspectives on the subject. One by Wallis and Weingast and the other by David Super. Team Assignment: (Teams I & J): The principal readings for this class offer different visions of optimal (or at least possible) fiscal relationships across different levels of government. Please create a short powerpoint presentation summarizing the essence of these two approaches? Please also consider which of these approaches you find more compelling or insightful. For additional background, two related briefing papers are included: one on the Unfunded Mandates Act and another on NFIB v. Sebelius, which deals with conditional spending. Attached solely for those who many be interested is another briefing paper on State and Municipal Bankruptcies, a topic alluded to in the Wallis & Weingast chapter.