Interdisciplinary Studies Concentration--Public PolicyThe study of public administration often centers around budgeting: for example, budget preparation, approval, and execution, budget reform, and the expansion of the operating budget to maximize agency performance. To some degree, however, the academic literature tends to assume that agencies will have little trouble finding the funds or resources necessary to carry out adequately their policy directives. When the problem of insufficient funding has been addressed, it has usually been in the context of either a significant administrative policy change reflecting a decrease in the importance a policy issue holds on the public agenda, or as a study of legislative oversight reaction to perceived excesses on the part of the agency in the course of executing its duties