Focus on the Federal Budget Deficit
This handout provides instructions on building the graph below and includes writing prompts for out-of-class assignments.
From the FRED Blog
The post “The federal budget balance as a fraction of GDP” compares the annual balance of the federal government budget as a percent of GDP during the fiscal and calendar years. The choice of calendars has some noticeable impacts on the overall calculation.
Quiz Yourself on Government Budget Deficits
Q1. The FRED graph shows the two major sources of revenue for state and local governments: transfers from the federal government (the blue line) and their own tax receipts (the red line). Between Q1 1960 and Q2 2023, which source of revenue was larger?
Q2. Why did transfers from the federal government to state and local governments spike during Q2 2020 and Q2 2021?
Read this FRED Blog post to learn more about those data.
Q1. The FRED graph shows three different sources of state and local tax revenue. Which source of tax revenue decreased the most, in millions of US dollars, during the 2020 recession?
Q2. Which source of tax revenue decreased the least, in millions of US dollars, during the 2020 recession?
Read this FRED Blog post to learn more about those data.
Q1. The FRED map shows projected net borrowing (the yellow areas) and lending (the green areas) by governments as a percent of their gross domestic products (GDP). Name two nations projected to report larger receipts than outlays (i.e., be net lenders) in 2028.
You can share these graphs with your students using this dashboard. To customize this dashboard, just click the “Save to My Account” button at the top of the dashboard.
