In United States federal government finance, '''coercive deficiency''' is a process by which budget holders can allow themselves to run out of money prior to the end of a fiscal period, on the assumption that Congress will then feel morally obligated to supply the missing funding in order to prevent cessation of services or breach of contracts.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jensen|first=John E.|title=Quick reference to federal appropriations law|year=2006|publisher=Management Concepts|location=Vienna, Virginia|isbn=1567261760|pages=149|edition=2nd}}</ref>
The phrase was coined by American political economist and historian Lucius Wilmerding, Jr.<ref>{{cite news|title=Paid Notice: Deaths Wilmerding, Lucius Jr.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/20/classified/paid-notice-deaths-wilmerding-lucius-jr.html|accessdate=1 October 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=20 August 2002}}</ref> in his 1943 book ''The Spending Power: A History of the Efforts of Congress to Control Expenditures''.<ref name="Kiewiet & McCubbins 1991">{{cite book|last1=Kiewiet|first1=D. Roderick|last2=McCubbins |first2=Mathew D.|title=The logic of delegation: congressional parties and the appropriations process|year=1991|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=0226435318|pages=213–249|edition=<!--reprint – not a separate edition-->}}</ref>
The first attempt to control for coercive deficiency requests to Congress was the Anti-Deficiency Act of 1870, which prevented agencies from obligating more funds than had been appropriated by Congress.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Rabin|editor-first=Jack|title=Encyclopedia of public administration and public policy|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpu00rabi|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Dekker|location=New York |isbn=0824709462|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpu00rabi/page/101 101]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Wildavsky|first=Aaron|title=How to Limit Government Spending|date=1980|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=0520042271|pages=[https://archive.org/details/howtolimitgovern00wild/page/98 98]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/howtolimitgovern00wild/page/98}}</ref> Historians have documented examples of coercive deficiencies at the U.S. Post Office in 1879 and 1947 and at the Defense Department.<ref name="Kiewiet & McCubbins 1991"/>
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Category:Government procurement in the United States