Richard Doyle, Ph.D.

Richard Doyle joined the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School in 1990 as Associate Professor of Public Budgeting.  Between 1987 and 1990, Dr. Doyle was Senior Analyst for Defense on the staff of the Committee on the Budget, United States Senate.  The focus of Dr. Doyle’s teaching, research and writing is the congressional budget process, budget policy and national security.  Dr. Doyle received the MA and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Washington and a BS in International Affairs from the United States Air Force Academy. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.  Information concerning his publications and other professional activities can be found at http://www.nps.navy.mil/gsbpp/rdoyle. 

Current Budget Related Topics

The Financial Crisis: Policies & Prognosis

Congress & the Budget

Request a Budget Related Topic:  Consult with Dr. Doyle on a topic focus of interest or relevance to your members or staff based on the following comments from Dr. Doyle:    

"The presentations I gave this week told this story:  The federal budget was in perilous condition--I refer to it as the eye of a fiscal hurricane--before the economic crisis.  (We were in the eye of a fiscal hurricane when an economic tsunami struck--if that is not too over the top).  The problem, referred to as the structural deficit, arises from the fact that federal spending has become dominated by entitlements, specifically, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and these entitlements grow faster than the economy and faster than everything else in the budget.  The cost growth has been driving healthcare spending up for some time now; spending for Social Security and Medicare are poised to explode because of demographics, i.e., the retirement of the Boomers.  The structural deficit has caused the federal debt to grow, and foreign ownership of that debt is at an all time high.  Entitlement reform and tax increases were needed to address this problem.  These changes in budgeting are very difficult to bring about, partly because of the politics involved, partly because healthcare reform is complex.  It takes time to make these changes, i.e., they have to be phased in.  The window for reform was almost closed, i.e., we were running out of time because of the Boomer retirement event, when the economic crisis hit.  We're using monetary policy, fiscal policy and some extraordinary measures by the Fed and the Treasury to restore the economy.  Some of this, e.g., the stimulus bills, adds further to the debt.  That means digging ourselves further into the hole we were in before the economy went south.  Once we get the economy turned around, perhaps in 2010, we will be facing the same structural deficit problem we had before the crisis, only it will be worse in the sense that the debt will be larger and the cost of reform will be higher (because it was delayed).  If the stimulus legislation adds more permanent spending or tax cuts, reform will even more difficult.