A call for budget reform

Article Abstract:

This article calls for reform of the U.S. Federal budget from two perspectives, preparation and content. The first aspect of reform proposes to amend the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 by eliminating the requirement for an executive budget. It proposes replacing the executive budget submission with a budget prepared by a joint executive-legislative council. While the decision-making process for approval of the budget would remain the same, the council-proposed budget would eliminate several time consuming issues of disagreement such as whose economic estimates are used. The second aspect of reform proposes an examination of the contents of the budget. The current budget focuses on agency appropriations and the debt/surplus figure. Many more issues such as unfunded pension liabilities, true costs of credit, value of government-owned assets and the number of appropriations are largely neglected. This aspect of the budget should be examined by a non-partisan group of experts to make recommendations for an improvement in the informational content of the budget. Improved information could help support sound decision-making. The article contends that we can preserve the constitutional separation of powers dealing with the budget while we simply improve the methods used to prepare the document itself, and once the document is prepared it would be structured so it can be examined in a meaningful manner by interested citizens in order to ascertain the financial conditions of the country. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher).

---

Wildavsky on budget reform

Article Abstract:

A large part of the literature on budgeting in the United States is concerned with reform. The goals of proposed reforms are couched in similar language - economy, efficiency, improvement, or just better budgeting... . However, any effective change in budgetary relationships must necessarily alter the outcomes of the budgetary process. Otherwise, why bother? Far from being a neutral matter of 'better budgeting', proposed reforms inevitably contain important implications for the political system, that is, the 'who gets what' of governmental decisions (Wildavsky, 1961: p.186). ...budgeting is a subsystem of politics, not vice versa - because of the current tendency to overload budgeting. As much as I respect the importance of budgeting and the talents of budgeteers, to substitute budgeting for governing will not work (Wildavsky, 1992b: p. 439). (Reprinted by permission of the publisher).

Economic policy, Criticism and interpretation, Wildavsky, Aaron

---

Reforming the federal budgetary process: a symposium commemorating the 75th anniversary of the executive budget

Article Abstract:

A symposium which aimed to discuss executive budgeting, actually focused on the congressional budgetary process. The symposium commemorated 75 years of the executive budget. Papers included in the symposium tend to reject orthodoxy and acknowledge the conflict between the legislative process in the US and classical budget norms, a concept traditionally rejected by academics.

Conferences, meetings and seminars, Budget, Budgeting, Budgets

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Clinton defense budget shows $12 billion cut from Bush plan
• Abstracts: A challenge for the World Trade Organization: towards a true transnational law. Contextual imperatives of dispute resolution mechanisms; some hypotheses and their applications in the Uruguay Round and NAFTA
• Abstracts: U.S., Russia sign agreements on plutonium-producing reactors. U.S., Russia amend HEU deal, accelerating implementation pace
• Abstracts: U.S. withholds approval for computer exports to Russia. Cohen announces NMD restructuring, funding boost. Senate narrowly averts floor vote on Cochran NMD legislation
• Abstracts: Comment on Fischel's 'Political economy of just compensation.' (article by William A. Fischel in this issue, p. 23)

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.