Public Expenditures in the United States, 1952-1993

The way public expenditures are presented in the federal budget has become an important policy issue as recent budget submissions illustrate. However, all of the proposed alternatives focus on the federal sector, and none presents the national budget in the context of the national economy. This analysis offers new, alternative ways of viewing federal, state, and local government expenditures. In doing so, it focuses attention on the major categories of expenditures that will shape the agenda for policy into the next century and illustrates forms of presentation for public expenditures that would benefit citizens and government decisionmakers alike.