State budgets and the business cycle: Implications for the federal balanced budget amendment debate
Balanced budgets and proponents often use the experience of the states with balanced budget restrictions as an argument in favor of a federal balanced budget amendment. However, the state experience is not directly relevant to the federal government. State restriction are more lenient than those considered at the federal level, and many of the techniques used by the states to blame their budgets over the business cycle are not available to the federal government.
