The Reality Of Budgetary Reform In Oecd Nations

The Reality of Budgetary Reform in OECD Nations investigates the impacts and consequences of budgetary reform through a comparative assessment of advanced Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) democracies that have undertaken budget reforms over the past two to three decades. This unique book traces the story of reform in the respective countries. The expert authors explore the journey each country took, what the objectives were, the approach taken, the main events and key dates, what was implemented and what was discarded or replaced. They capture both the essence of each nation s approach, as well as discuss the similarities and trends. The study investigates how the various roles of the central budget agencies have changed with respect to public expenditure, how budget processes have developed and the impact on the relations between key actors. It also analyses the internal cultures of central budget agencies and how they evaluate events, problems and their roles in controlling the fiscal policy of government. With its comparative focus, this timely book is essential reading for the OECD and World Bank affiliates. Likewise, scholars and researchers of public finance, international and comparative government, and development and public sector management should not be without this important resource.

The global financial crisis of 2007–09 constituted the biggest shock to the economies of the OECD nations since the Second World War and caused most of their governments to move into intense crisis mode. They made significant adjustments to their fiscal policy regimes, including massive interventions to stabilize markets and economies. But how they reacted to the crisis, and what measures they took to deal with it, still underpin their economic and budgetary positions. This singular shock provides the editors and authors of this book with an intriguing opportunity to examine how different OECD budgetary systems performed. Chapters cover the EU, North America and Asia, assessing how governments responded to the challenge and how their budget systems evolved in the aftermath.

Public administration as a field of study finds itself in the middle of a fluid environment. The very reach and complexity of public administration has been easy to take for granted, easy to attack, and difficult to explain, particularly in the soundbite and Twitter-snipe media environment. Not only has the context for the discipline changed, but the institutions of public administration have adapted and innovated to deliver services to the public and serve those in power while becoming increasingly complex themselves. Has public administration evolved? And what new lines of research are critical for effective policy and delivery of programs and public services while preserving foundational principles such as the rule of law and expert institutions? This Handbook of Public Administration sheds light for new researchers, doctoral students, scholars, and practitioners interested in probing modern public administration’s role in solving major challenges facing nations and the world. This fourth edition recognizes that the scholarship of public administration must reflect the diverse influence of an international orientation, embracing public administration issues and practices in governance systems around the world, and illustrating just how practice can vary across jurisdictions. Every section identifies foundational principles and issues, shows variation in practice across selected jurisdictions, and identifies promising avenues for research. Each chapter revisits enduring themes and tensions, showing how they persist, along with new challenges and opportunities presented by digital technology and contemporary political realities. The Handbook of Public Administration, Fourth Edition provides a compelling introduction to and depiction of the contemporary realities of public administration, and it will inspire new avenues of inquiry for the next generation of public administration researchers.

Using theoretical frameworks to explore the political, organizational, and cultural dynamics of performance budgeting, this book examines the adoption of performance budgeting in a variety of countries, how it has been implemented, and why it succeeded or failed. Chapters include case studies from a wide range of continents and regions including the U.S., Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Each case study pays careful attention to the unique historical, political, and cultural contexts of reform and closely examines how performance informed the budgetary process. Chapters investigate theory-driven analysis, focusing on common themes related to international policy diffusion, organizational change, stakeholder politics and gaming, communication and information management, principal–agent dynamics, and institutional constraints. Contributors include both scholars and seasoned practitioners with extensive experience in implementing or advising performance budgeting reforms. With emphases on both theories and practices, this book is written for graduate courses in public budgeting and comparative public administration, providing theoretical insights into budgeting reforms in developing countries, as well as practice-relevant and actionable recommendations for current and future policymakers and budget reformers.

Since 2008, the world has experienced an enormous decrease of wealth. By many measures the impact of the crisis was severe. The fall in GDP, the collapse of world trade, the rise in unemployment, and the credit slump reached bigger proportions than in any other crisis since World War II. Although the economic figures seem to improve in some countries, the crisis continues being a challenging issue and is said to be one of the most important problems governments face today. The crisis has put public finances under ever increasing pressure, and governments have responded through austerity measures such as new fiscal rules and budgeting procedures and cutbacks of public spending. Public Management in Times of Austerity seeks to explore the austerity policies adopted by European governments and their consequences to public management. It asks how governments have implemented new rules leading to more stringency in public budgeting and financial management, and how they have cut back public expenditure. These questions are examined comparatively through case studies in different parts of Europe, and variations across countries are discussed and explained. Throughout the volume, the consequences of the crisis and austerity policies for public management are discussed. What is the relationship between crisis and decision-making in the public sector, and how does austerity affect public-sector organisation? As the previous crisis in the 1970s resulted in a major reform movement, which was later referred to as New Public Management, Public Management in Times of Austerity look to understand whether the current crisis also leads to a wave of public management reform, and if so what is the content of this?

The Greater China Australia Dialogue on Public Administration has held annual workshops since 2011 on public administration themes of common interest to the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan and Australia. This book presents and discusses a selection of papers developed from the Dialogue’s fifth workshop held in late 2015 hosted by the National Taiwan University in Taipei. The theme, ‘Value for Money’, focused on budget and financial management reforms, including how different nations account for the relative performance of their public sectors. All governments face the challenge of scarce resources requiring budgetary management processes for identifying the resources required by and available to government, and then for allocating them and ensuring their use or deployment represents value for money. Such budgetary and financial management processes need to inform decision-making routinely and protect the integrity of the way public resources are used – with some public accountability to indicate that their uses are properly authorised and reflect the policies of legitimate government leaders. The chapters in this book explore budgeting and financial management in three very different jurisdictions: Australia, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan). These activist and at times innovative countries are keen to analyse and reflect upon each other’s policy achievements and patterns of public provision. They are keen to learn more about each other as their economic and social engagement continues to deepen. They are also conscious that fundamental differences exist in terms of economic development and global strategic positioning, and levels and philosophies of political development; to an extent these differences are representative of differences amongst countries around the globe.

This festschrift celebrates the extensive contribution John Wanna has made to the research and practice of politics, policy and public administration. It includes both personal acknowledgements of his work and substantial essays on the issues that he focused most closely upon during his academic career: budgeting and financial management, politics, and public policy and administration. The essays address contemporary developments in public sector financial management in Australia and overseas, changing political processes in Queensland and the Commonwealth, and public governance and administration reform trajectories in Australia and internationally, including in China. A common theme is the importance of linking research to practice, reflecting John Wanna’s own style and contribution. Essays include exploration of the interface between academia and practice, including from the perspective of practitioners. The authors of the essays in this volume include eminent Australian and international scholars of public administration, experienced public service practitioners and younger scholars influenced by John Wanna.

This book probes the hollow rhetoric of debt, deficits and austerity. It explores the decisions of parties of the left which have attempted to deflect criticisms of economic mismanagement and gain trust by depoliticising the budget process and financial management with various rules, albeit with elements of discretion. The book argues that this is a perverse form of trust as it is premised on the belief that political leaders and the public sector cannot be trusted to make appropriate decisions given the economic circumstances of the time and need rules, but at the same time that they can be trusted to follow the rules. The book also explores parties of the right, which often advocate stricter rules and which tend to be the least effective. The book describes how few conservative governments have admirable records on sustained surpluses, given a propensity for unsustainable tax cuts, and the future opportunities this provides to advance a political program of deeper spending cuts.