Hiding Behind the Baseline: Big Numbers and the Budget Game

Jonathan Coppess

farmdoc daily, 2025, vol. 14, issue 42

Abstract: In 1988, the political scientist Aaron Wildavsky warned that the burgeoning set of policies emphasizing budget discipline did not “bode well for the ability to govern” because they could collapse policymaking into zero-sum and then negative-sum games. A central problem was that “[f]ew programs are considered solely on their substantive or political merits” but instead “to what degree do programs contribute to the deficit” or what they cost rather than what they achieve (Wildavsky 1988, at 203, 204, and 250). After more than 35 years of experience, Dr. Wildavsky’s warning appears both prescient and a troubling understatement; the continued impasse over farm bill reauthorization offers a case on point, as discussed herein with respect to realities hiding behind the baseline and big numbers of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Keywords: Agribusiness; Gardner Policy Series (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:illufd:358564

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.358564

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