1. Major Integrative Essays Answer two of the following questions with as much detail as you can, using as many examples as you can.
2. Compare and contrast line-item, performance, program, and zero-base budgets in terms of purpose, scope, ease of preparation, actual usage, information provided, and the skills necessary to prepare them. While most budget scholars extol the virtues of clearly-stated, well-justified, well-presented, performance-based budgets, most practitioners continue to rely upon older, object-of-expenditure (line-item) formats. Why do you think that this is so? What is lost from this inattention to performance-based criteria? What specific budgetary practices deserve the most attention and what specifications might be taken to increase practitioner commitment to such under-utilized practices as performance-based budgeting? What criteria do you think should be the most important for the evaluation of public/non-profit budgets? Why?
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3. (Part A) What factors led (in Wildavsky's terms) to the Collapse of Budgetary Consensus that occurred in the 1970s? Define his consensus, and then compare and contrast the Era of Classical Budgeting with U.S. national budgeting under the 1974 Budget and Impoundment Control Act in giving your answer. How successful was the 1974 Act in achieving its goals? Why?
(Part B) What factors led (in Wildavsky's terms) to the Budgetary Dissensus that occurred in the 1980s? Define Wildavsky's dissensus, and then compare and contrast the 1970s and 1980s in national budgeting in giving your answer. How successful was the 1985 GRH Act in achieving its goals? Why?
4. Compare and contrast the fiscal health of the U.S. with that of at least one other nation over time. Give your estimation of the economic outlook/prospects for each.