Teaching resource to introduce budget cuts to Local Government Spending

If you're looking at government intervention to correct market failure then you may find this 5 minute resource of value. Using statistics compiled from Professor Tony Travers of the LSE, highlighted in this article, it asks students to predict which local government budget areas will see the largest cuts by 2018.

We often talk about the solution to market failure as government intervention; whether that is highway maintenance of a public good like roads or provision of education as a merit good. I've always found it valuable to try and put some figures to that level of intervention to illustrate the real world nature of the process.

This asks students to rank the local government budget areas in terms of those that will see the lowest level of cuts down to those that will see the highest level. It asks students to think about the value of the service provided to society and use that view to predict which areas can sustain the highest cuts, The resource uses a Powerpoint slideshow to introduce the task and act as a timer whilst the activity takes place. The file also comes with a template that teachers can cut up to create the table activity for students.

Download the Budget Cuts activity from this link.