A budget surplus occurs if a government’s revenues exceed its expenditures, while a budget deficit exists if government expenditures exceed revenues. When a government’s revenues equal its expenditures for a particular period, it has a balanced budget. We will discuss these programs later in this chapter.įinally, note the relationship between expenditures and receipts. This reflects the growth of federal transfer programs, principally Social Security, programs to help people pay for health-care costs, and aid to low-income people. A second development, the widening gap between expenditures and purchases, has occurred since the 1960s. The Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq did not have the impact on purchases that characterized World War II or even the Korean War. It was during this period that military spending rose to meet the challenge posed by the former Soviet Union and other communist states-the “Cold War.” Government purchases have ranged between 15 and 20% of GDP ever since. This time, however, they did not drop back very far after the war. Government purchases rose again, though less sharply, during the Korean War. Government purchases relative to GDP rose dramatically during World War II, then dropped back to about their prewar level almost immediately afterward. Note first the path of government purchases. Several points about Figure 15.1 “Government Expenditures and Revenues as a Percentage of GDP” bear special attention. Interest payments on government debt, which are also a form of expenditure, are another example of an expenditure that is not counted as a government purchase. This program transfers income from people who are working (by taxing their pay) to people who have retired. Social Security is the largest transfer payment program in the United States. The various welfare programs for low-income people are examples of transfer payments. Governments engage in transfer payments in order to redistribute income from one group to another. Transfer payments represent government expenditures but not government purchases. The primary source of the gap is transfer payments, payments made by government agencies to individuals in the form of grants rather than in return for labor or other services. Government expenditures and purchases are not equal because much government spending is not for the purchase of goods and services. Spending for public education is another example. A city police department’s purchase of new cars is an example of a government purchase. Whether a government agency purchases a good or service or produces it, factors of production are being used for public sector, rather than private sector, activities. We measure government purchases to suggest the opportunity cost of government. Government purchases happen when a government agency purchases or produces a good or a service. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, NIPA Tables 1.15 and 3.1.įigure 15.1 “Government Expenditures and Revenues as a Percentage of GDP” also shows government purchases as a percentage of GDP. We will look at types of government revenues and expenditures later in this chapter. The primary component of government revenues is taxes revenue also includes miscellaneous receipts from fees, fines, and other sources. Government revenues include all funds received by government agencies. Government expenditures include all spending by government agencies. Total government spending per capita, adjusted for inflation, has increased more than six fold since 1929.įigure 15.1 “Government Expenditures and Revenues as a Percentage of GDP” shows total government expenditures and revenues as a percentage of GDP from 1929 to 2007. In the current century, that share has more than tripled. In 1929 (the year the Commerce Department began keeping annual data on macroeconomic performance in the United States), government expenditures at all levels (state, local, and federal) were less than 10% of the nation’s total output, which is called gross domestic product (GDP). The role of government has expanded dramatically in the last 75+ years. What do we want from our government? One answer is that we want a great deal more than we did several decades ago.
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