Xr03-38 How has the size of government changed?

To help answer this question, we recorded the U.S.

federal budget receipts and outlays (billions of current dollars) for the years 1980 to 2007.

a. Use a graphical technique to describe the receipts and outlays of the annual U.S. federal government budgets since 1980.

b. Calculate the difference between receipts and outlays. If the difference is positive the result is a surplus; if the difference is negative the result is a deficit. Graph the surplus/deficit variable and describe the results.

Year 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Receipts 517.1 599.3 617.8 600.6 666.5 734.1 769.2 854.4 909.3 991.2 Outlays 590.9 678.2 745.7 808.4 851.9 946.4 990.4 1,004.1 1,064.5 1,143.6 Year 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Receipts 1,032.0 1,055.0 1,091.3 1,154.4 1,258.6 1,351.8 1,453.1 1,579.3 1,721.8 1,827.5 Outlays 1,253.2 1,324.4 1,381.7 1,409.5 1,461.9 1,515.8 1,560.5 1,601.3 1,652.6 1,701.9 Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Receipts 2,025.2 1,991.2 1,853.2 1,782.3 1,880.1 2,153.9 2,407.3 2,568.2 Outlays 1,789.1 1,863.9 2,011.0 2,159.9 2,293.0 2,472.2 2,655.4 2,730.2