Budgeting may be studied from several perspectives.  From the vantage point of professional schools of public administration, the practical elements of budgeting include the actual drafting and formatting of budget documents, the application of cost-benefit and other tools of program analysis, the projection of revenues and expenditures, the division of spending into its operational and capital components, and the management and implementation of programs funded by the budget.  Economists principally focus on the macroeconomic consequences of budgeting, such as the effects of deficit spending on interest rates, inflation, the crowding out of private investment, foreign exchange rates, and national debt management.  At a more micro level, economists may also consider the effectiveness of specific programs funded in the budget, such as determining the influence of public jobs programs on the labor market.  These questions may also be of interest to and directly addressed by political scientists, but the centrality of political science research looks at budgeting as a guide to a broader analysis of politics, the development of institutions, the relationships between institutions, the behavior of political actors within those institutions, and the formulation and implementation specific public policies.  This course examines budgeting from this last perspective, especially from a comparative and theoretical viewpoint.  We will consider the politics and process of public budgeting, and the role the budget plays in national and international economic policy making.  Students will read portions of the federal budget, learn budget terminology, and follow the American national budgetary process as it evolves during the course.