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| A system of government in which the national and subnational governments share power. To be contrasted with unitary systems (all political power is concentrated at the center) and confederations (political power is completely decentralized, with the subnational govenments holding the upper hand)l |
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| The shifting of programmatic responsibilites in certain policy areas from teh national government to the states. |
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| Intergovernmental Relations |
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| The web of interrelationships among governments at all levels, which inceasingly includes nonprofit and private organizations. |
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| A governmental system with power centralizedin a national government. |
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| Using the budget (i.e.governmental expenditures and revenues) to manage the economy; the counterpart to monetary policy. |
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| The federal governments management of the economy by the manipulation of the money supply, interest rates, and credit; the federal reserve banking system is responsible for directing monetary policy. |
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| The fourteen governmental powers that are given to the national government by the U.S. Constitution. Also known as delegated powers. |
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| The portion of the Constitution (Aritcle VI, paragraph 2) which holds that the Constitution and all laws made under its authority are the supreme law of the land and take precedence over the states. |
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| A type of grant-in-aid that can be used for a number of purposes within a functional area, which provides lower-level governments more discretion. |
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| A type of grant-in-aid with a narrowly defined purpose used to achieve very specific goals (e.g. buidling an airport, dam, or highway) |
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| A federal requirement that supersedes all state laws in a particular program area. |
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| The principle that local governments have only those powers granted to them by the state government. Named after jurist John Forrest Dillion, who formulated the rule in the nineteenth century. |
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| The granting of considerable decision-making powers to local governments by state legislatures or state constitutions. |
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| The part of proposed legislation that describes the fiscal impact of the legislation. |
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| Gross Domestic Product (GDP) |
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| The total value of all goods and services produced within a country during a specified period (most commonly, per year) |
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| An economy in which the public sector plays a significant role and consumes a considerable proportion of the gross domestic product. |
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| A class of economic occurrences (e.g., monopoly, externalities, etc.) in which private markets fail to perform efficiently; entails social costs that can be corrected through collective action, usually by the government. |
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| A situation arising in the case of public goods in which a citizen receives benefits without paying for them. |
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| A political arrangement in which different sectors of society organize into group in order to exert political influence. |
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| The constitutional doctrine that power should be diffused throughout the government, keeping the executive, legislative, and judicial branches distinct so that power is not centralized in one branch. |
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| A system of government in which the national and subnational governments share power. To be contrasted with unitary systems (all political power is concetnrated at the center) and confederations (political power is completely decentralized, with the subnational governments holding the upper hand). |
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| The creation of departments and programs in order to serve the needs of specific interest groups or segments of society. |
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| The theory that certain national disturbances (e.g. wars) cause a permanent jump in government expenditures. |
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| The agencies that exist principally to serve the needs of certain interest groups ("clients") |
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| Long-term debt in which the principal and interest are paid off using the revenues generated by the facility built with the funds from the bond. |
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| A type of budgeting that reports the items to be purchased by a government (e.g., salaries, equipment, supplies) and the amount of money that will be spent on each item. |
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| A type of budgeting that combines output and cost data from programs to show if they are being efficiently operated. |
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| A type of budgeting in which a program's continued existence is not assumed and all expenditures, not just new ones, must be justified every year; the goal is to eliminate unneccessary programs. |
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| A tax in which the ratio of tax to income as a taxpayer's income rises. |
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