ABSTRACT
Some of the best writings on public budgeting and finance can be found in the journals that ASPA publishes or sponsors. For this volume editor Irene Rubin has brought together the best of these articles - emerging classics that address the most important theoretical and practical problems underlying public budgeting.The anthology is organized topically rather than historically, with an effort to delineate the issues needed to understand some of the more recent controversies in the field. Rubin's introductory essay and section openers frame the key issues and provide historical context for each article. The collection begins with descriptions of what public budgeting is, where it comes from, and what it is for. It moves on to the relationship between budget processes and outcomes, constraints on budgeting, the legal context in which it operates, and adaptations to those constraints such as contracting out.The book concludes with a discussion of the ethics and norms that underlie budgeting in a democracy. Throughout the anthology, the emphasis is on areas of disagreement and debate, so students can get involved and explore different viewpoints.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |42 pages
What is a Public Budget? Origins and Purposes
part |57 pages
Budgeting in a Democracy; Institutional Arrangements
chapter |12 pages
Paradox, Ambiguity, and Enigma
part |109 pages
The Roles of the Key Budget Actors and Decision Making
part |36 pages
Role of the Executive Budget Office
part |10 pages
The Courts—When and How They Intervene
part |20 pages
The Bureaucracy
chapter |13 pages
The Budget-Minimizing Bureaucrat?
part |41 pages
Incrementalism
part |70 pages
The Budget Process
part |103 pages
Constraints
part |25 pages
Federalism
part |39 pages
Entitlements
part |27 pages
Tax and Expenditure Limitations
part |10 pages
Court Decisions and Constitutional Rights
part |34 pages
Privatization and Contracting
part |82 pages
Budget Norms and Ethics