Unit 2 Questions

Please answer each of the following questions.  If you are taking this course in a group you may then meet to discuss your answers.

• Does it matter if governments have high budget deficits?

• List some of the main sources of government revenue. Which of these are important in your country?

• How does the budget in your country compare to the principles of good budgeting?

• Are fiscal discipline, allocative efficiency and operational efficiency the only objectives of budgeting?

Relevant Internet Resources

American Association for Budget and Program Analysis:
http://www.aabpa.org/

Governance Resource Centre Exchange:
Public Financial Management and Accountability
http://www.grc-exchange.org/g_themes/pfma.html

International Monetary Fund:
Guidelines for Public Expenditure Management
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/expend/index.htm

Overseas Development Institute:
Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure
http://www.odi.org.uk/pppg/cape/

Public Budgeting and Finance:
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0275-1100&site=1

Select Bibliography

Allen, R. and D. Tommasi (2001). Managing Public Expenditure: A Reference Book for Transition Countries. Paris, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/pe/oecdpemhandbook.pdf

Campos, J. E. L. and S. Pradhan (1996). Budgetary Institutions and Expenditure Outcomes: Binding Governments to Fiscal Performance. Washington, D.C., World Bank.

Hagen, J. v. (1992). Budgeting Procedures and Fiscal Performance in the European Communities. Brussels, Commission of the European Communities Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs.

International Monetary Fund (1998). Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency. Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund.

International Monetary Fund (2001). Revised Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency. Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund.
http://www.imf.org/external/np/fad/trans/code.htm#code

Kristensen, J. K. et al (2002). ‘Outcome-focused Management and Budgeting.’ OECD Journal on Budgeting 1(4): 7-34.

Lee, R. D. et al (2004). Public Budgeting Systems. Boston, Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Niskanen, W. A. (1971). Bureaucracy and Representative Government. Chicago, Aldine Atherton.

Poterba, J. M. and J. v. Hagen, Eds. (1999). Fiscal Institutions and Fiscal Performance. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

Schiavo-Campo, S. and D. Tommasi (1999). Managing Government Expenditure. Manila, Asian Development Bank.
http://www.adb.org/documents/manuals/govt_expenditure/

Schick, A. (1997). The Changing Role of the Central Budget Office. Paris, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Schick, A. (1998). A Contemporary Approach to Public Expenditure Management. Washington, D.C., World Bank Institute.
http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/pe/PEM_book.pdf

Schick, A. (2003). The Performing State: Reflection on an Idea Whose Time Has Come But Whose Implementation Has Not. 24th Annual Meeting of OECD Senior Budget Officials, Rome, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Stourm, R. (1917). The Budget. New York, London, D. Appleton for the Institute for Government Research.

Strauch, R. and J. v. Hagen, Eds. (2000). Institutions, Politics, and Fiscal Policy. ZEI Studies in European Economics and Law Vol. 2. Boston, Kluwer Academic.

Sturm, R. (1999). Public Deficits: A Comparative Study of their Economic and Political Consequences in Britain, Canada, Germany, and the United States. New York, Addison Wesley Longman.

Tarschys, D. (2002). ‘Time Horizons in Budgeting.’ OECD Journal on Budgeting 2(2): 77-103.
References

Wildavsky, A. B. (1984). The Politics of the Budgetary Process. Boston, Little Brown.

World Bank (1998). Public Expenditure Management Handbook. Washington, D.C., World Bank.
http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/pe/english.htm