Some of the best writings on public budgeting and finance can be found in the journals that ASPA publishes or sponsors. For this volume editor Irene Rubin has brought together the best of these articles - emerging classics that address the most important theoretical and practical problems underlying public budgeting.The anthology is organized topically rather than historically, with an effort to delineate the issues needed to understand some of the more recent controversies in the field. Rubin's introductory essay and section openers frame the key issues and provide historical context for each article. The collection begins with descriptions of what public budgeting is, where it comes from, and what it is for. It moves on to the relationship between budget processes and outcomes, constraints on budgeting, the legal context in which it operates, and adaptations to those constraints such as contracting out.The book concludes with a discussion of the ethics and norms that underlie budgeting in a democracy. Throughout the anthology, the emphasis is on areas of disagreement and debate, so students can get involved and explore different viewpoints.
The book describes in-depth qualitative interviewing from the very beginning to last step, from its underlying philosophy and assumptions to project design, analysis and write up. In responsive interviewing, the stages of research-design, data gathering, and analysis-are intimately linked. Researchers perform analysis throughout their projects, not just at the end, so that as they learn more, they can modify both the research problem they are exploring and the questions they ask. The book assumes no prior knowledge or experience, and the authors' tone is conversational, revealing that interviewers can make mistakes, recover from them and still obtain rich and meaningful information.
Using a “power struggles” theme to examine the dynamics of budgeting, Rubin’s classic text shines a bright light on the political jockeying between interest groups, parties, officials, policymakers, and the public. Expert at explaining budgeting changes over time, Rubin sets issues like the federal deficit and health care expenditures in political and comparative context. Analyzing each strand of the decision-making process, Rubin shows the extraordinary coordination involved in passing a budget and achieving accountability.
In this timely book Irene Rubin focuses on how government tried and eventually succeeded in balancing the U.S. federal budget in 1998. With characteristic insight and a lively narrative, Rubin describes the successive efforts of Congress and the administration over seventeen years to shape a process that would encourage balance, as well as the reactions of federal agencies to the pressure.
Offering case studies of financial management in numerous American cities over a period of enormous growth and change, Irene Rubin explores the historical context of municipal budgeting in the United States and the political environment that conditions reform and problem solving at the local level.
This collection is the first book-length work in many years to provide new theoretical direction to budget theory. Written by several of the most respected people in budgeting, including Allen Schick, Naomi Caiden, and Lance LeLoup, it explores such current topics as the scope of budgeting, the degree and source of variation in budgeting, and changes in budgeting process over time. New Directions will help to build a framework that is less confining than incrementalism, and will stimulate and guide future research. Some of the essays deal with the implications of looking at budgeting from a multi-year perspective, and the importance of allocating sources other than money (such as personnel ceilings); others pose questions about what a budget theory should look like, and how many budget theories are needed.
This case study of a politically reformed, middle-sized Midwestern city provides a model of fiscal stress that contrasts sharply with that of America's vast metropolitan centers. Dr. Rubin examines the interaction of social, political, and economic causes of the city's predicament. She then goes on to analyze the specific factors that solved the city's problems over a six-year period. Finally, she offers a self-correcting mechanism that would allow a city to save itself from financial trouble without direct state or federal assistance. This study suggests that local political factors were even more important than national factors in contributing to the city's fiscal stress. It also brings into question the theory that generosity to the poor creates urban fiscal stress and that giving less to the poor will solve urban financial problems.
This case study of a politically reformed, middle-sized Midwestern city provides a model of fiscal stress that contrasts sharply with that of America’s vast metropolitan centers. Dr. Rubin examines the interaction of social, political, and economic causes of the city’s predicament. She then goes on to analyze the specific factors that solved the city’s problems over a six-year period. Finally, she offers a self-correcting mechanism that would allow a city to save itself from financial trouble without direct state or federal assistance. This study suggests that local political factors were even more important than national factors in contributing to the city’s fiscal stress. It also brings into question the theory that generosity to the poor creates urban fiscal stress and that giving less to the poor will solve urban financial problems.
Using a “power struggles” theme to examine the dynamics of budgeting, Rubin’s classic text shines a bright light on the political jockeying between interest groups, parties, officials, policymakers, and the public. Expert at explaining budgeting changes over time, Rubin sets issues like the federal deficit and health care expenditures in political and comparative context. Analyzing each strand of the decision-making process, Rubin shows the extraordinary coordination involved in passing a budget and achieving accountability.
Some of the best writings on public budgeting and finance can be found in the journals that ASPA publishes or sponsors. For this volume editor Irene Rubin has brought together the best of these articles - emerging classics that address the most important theoretical and practical problems underlying public budgeting.The anthology is organized topically rather than historically, with an effort to delineate the issues needed to understand some of the more recent controversies in the field. Rubin's introductory essay and section openers frame the key issues and provide historical context for each article. The collection begins with descriptions of what public budgeting is, where it comes from, and what it is for. It moves on to the relationship between budget processes and outcomes, constraints on budgeting, the legal context in which it operates, and adaptations to those constraints such as contracting out.The book concludes with a discussion of the ethics and norms that underlie budgeting in a democracy. Throughout the anthology, the emphasis is on areas of disagreement and debate, so students can get involved and explore different viewpoints.
The book describes in-depth qualitative interviewing from the very beginning to last step, from its underlying philosophy and assumptions to project design, analysis and write up. In responsive interviewing, the stages of research-design, data gathering, and analysis-are intimately linked. Researchers perform analysis throughout their projects, not just at the end, so that as they learn more, they can modify both the research problem they are exploring and the questions they ask. The book assumes no prior knowledge or experience, and the authors' tone is conversational, revealing that interviewers can make mistakes, recover from them and still obtain rich and meaningful information.
In this timely book Irene Rubin focuses on how government tried and eventually succeeded in balancing the U.S. federal budget in 1998. With characteristic insight and a lively narrative, Rubin describes the successive efforts of Congress and the administration over seventeen years to shape a process that would encourage balance, as well as the reactions of federal agencies to the pressure.
Offering case studies of financial management in numerous American cities over a period of enormous growth and change, Irene Rubin explores the historical context of municipal budgeting in the United States and the political environment that conditions reform and problem solving at the local level.
This collection is the first book-length work in many years to provide new theoretical direction to budget theory. Written by several of the most respected people in budgeting, including Allen Schick, Naomi Caiden, and Lance LeLoup, it explores such current topics as the scope of budgeting, the degree and source of variation in budgeting, and changes in budgeting process over time. New Directions will help to build a framework that is less confining than incrementalism, and will stimulate and guide future research. Some of the essays deal with the implications of looking at budgeting from a multi-year perspective, and the importance of allocating sources other than money (such as personnel ceilings); others pose questions about what a budget theory should look like, and how many budget theories are needed.
This case study of a politically reformed, middle-sized Midwestern city provides a model of fiscal stress that contrasts sharply with that of America's vast metropolitan centers. Dr. Rubin examines the interaction of social, political, and economic causes of the city's predicament. She then goes on to analyze the specific factors that solved the city's problems over a six-year period. Finally, she offers a self-correcting mechanism that would allow a city to save itself from financial trouble without direct state or federal assistance. This study suggests that local political factors were even more important than national factors in contributing to the city's fiscal stress. It also brings into question the theory that generosity to the poor creates urban fiscal stress and that giving less to the poor will solve urban financial problems.
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