Budgetary Politics

Synonyms

Financial management; Public budgeting

Definition

The process by which a government collects, distributes, and manages financial resources in a society.

Introduction

Public budgeting refers to financial decisions for governments (municipalities, counties, states, countries, etc.) and public organizations. Public budgets are unique in that they support the functions of government – intervening in market failures (for example, supplying public goods), economic stabilization, and redistribution (For full discussion on market failures see Weimer and Vining (2011), Chapter 5. For discussion on functions of government see Mikesell (2014), Chapter 1). Politics enters public budgeting decisions in several different ways – process, taxation and revenue systems, expenditure choices, balancing the budget, and so forth (Rubin 2014). While many people view budgets as simply numbers on a page, those who have studied the budgeting process know it represents more than just dollar amounts,...