ABSTRACT
What benefits do citizens realize from their investment in government? We pay taxes to fund government services; but how can we be sure the services have their desired impact? Over the past century, expectations for government budgeting, management, and accountability have shifted from controlling resources to measuring the public benefit derived from using the resources. Although performance-based budgeting promises to be a rational, systematic way to link funding to program effectiveness and efficiency, a greater promise may lie in its potential for improving government policy making and management.
