Read more
This path-breaking study examines state budget offices as institutional actors, with special attention to the role of budget examiners. Drawing on findings from field studies of eleven states in the American heartland, the authors demonstrate how budgeting at the state level has become more policy-oriented, requiring more complex decision making by budget analysts. The incrementalist model of budgetary decision-making thus gives way to a multiple rationalities model. The authors illustrate the new model with the story of two budget office examiners who have distinctly different styles as they begin their work, and contrast the different decision rationalities that come into play for them at different points in a typical budget cycle.
List of contents
List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes, Preface, Acknowledgments, Acronyms, Chapter 1. Introduction, Chapter 2. The State Budget Office and the Budget Problem, Chapter 3. Budget Rationalities: Effectiveness Decisions, Chapter 4. Budget Rationalities: Efficiency Decisions, Chapter 5. Budget Office Orientations and Decision Contexts, Chapter 6. The Anatomy of a Policy-Oriented Budget Recommendation, Chapter 7. The Anatomy of a Control-Oriented Budget Recommendation, Chapter 8. Changing Roles: From Guarding the Purse to Guarding the Policy, Chapter 9. Conclusion, References, Index, About the Authors
About the author
Thurmaier, Kurt M.; Willoughby, Katherine G.
Summary
This study examines American state budget offices as institutional actors, with special attention to the role of budget examiners. It draws on empirical findings from field studies in 11 states to demonstrate how budgeting at the state level has become more policy oriented.
