| Contributors | |
| Foreword | |
| 1 | The Political Economics of the 1990 Budget Agreement | 1 |
| The Fiscal Strategy Underlying the Budget Package | 3 |
| Criteria for Judging the Agreement | 5 |
| Deficit Reduction | 6 |
| Effect on the Business Cycle and Economic Growth | 9 |
| Are the Rules Rational? | 12 |
| Subsidiary Goals | 14 |
| Other Effects | 15 |
| The Future | 16 |
| 2 | Deficit Budgeting in the Age of Divided Government | 20 |
| New Rules for Old Problems | 21 |
| Are There Any Winners in BEA? | 28 |
| Overcoming Budgetary Impotence | 35 |
| 3 | Perspective on U.S. Fiscal Policy Before and After 1990 | 37 |
| Fiscal Policy and the 1990-1991 Recession | 42 |
| The Fiscal Legacy before the Reagan Era | 44 |
| The Reagan Era | 47 |
| The Post-Reagan Era | 51 |
| Comparing Federal and Corporate Fiscal Health | 53 |
| 4 | Measurement, Economic, and Political Issues of Debt and Deficits | 60 |
| Measurement | 60 |
| Economic Effects of the Budget | 64 |
| Some Political Aspects | 70 |
| What Can Be Done? | 74 |
| Notes | 77 |