71 publications on this topic.

The Impact of Budgetary Institutions on Expenditure Outcomes: Binding Governments to Fiscal Performance
Author: Ed Campos, Sanjay Pradhan
World Bank
This paper examines how institutional arrangements affect incentives that govern the size, allocation, and use of budget resources. It compares the effects of institutional structures on fiscal discipline in seven countries (Australia, Ghana, Indonesia, Malawi, New Zealand, Thailand, and Uganda. It also examines how donor assistance affects expenditure outcomes.

Budgeting and Policy Making
Author:
OECD
Reference book and training manual addressed to public administrators in transitional economies, and in particular to officials with budgeting and policy-making responsibilities. It compiles the papers presented at the Multicountry Seminar in Ljubljana (April, 1996)focusing on four major areas of the relationship between budgeting and policy-making: 1) a comprehensive look at the current state of theory, practice, solutions, trends and outstanding problems; 2) preparation of policies and budgets, including legislative ratification; 3) implementation, evaluation and control of policies and budgets; 4) a review of the utilization of state-controlled enterprises and the administration of social security schemes.

Budgeting for the Future
Author: Jon Blondal
OECD
This report reviews and analyzes techniques being applied in OECD Member countries for incorporating a more long-term orientation to the budget process. The report consists of three chapters. The first chapter focuses on the use of Multi-Year Budget Frameworks. The second chapter discusses Generational Accounting. The third and final chapter focuses on the New Zealand Fiscal Responsibility Act.

The Changing Role of the Central Budget Office
Author:
OECD
This paper evaluates the need for changes in the role of central budget offices in the face of decentralization in public management.

The Fiscal Covenant- Strengths, Weaknesses, Challenges
Author:
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
A report from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean that studies issues of budget transparency, productivity of spending measures, and protection of social equity.

Mission Driven, Results Oriented Budgeting
Author:
National Performance Review (US)
This report, released in 1993, examines ways to improve the budgeting process, making it more reflective of government priorities and more focused on attaining specific results. It creates the framework for changing the management culture in the federal government to focus on results, quality, and customer service.

Aid, Resource Rents and the Politics of the Budget Process
Author: Andrés Mejía Acosta and Paolo de Renzio
Institute of Development Studies
This paper analyzes the combined impact of political, institutional and budgetary procedures on budget outcomes in aid- and resource-dependent countries. The paper builds on a new dataset containing a total of 47 low and lower middle income countries whose economies depend on aid or natural resource inflows, over a period of twelve years (1995-2006. The empirical section identifies some trends that qualify conventional beliefs about the importance of executive power on the budget process and helps identify some arenas where more empirical and conceptual research is needed to understand the political factors underlying the budget process and producing budget outcomes.

Putting it Together — Introduction
Author:
New Zealand Treasury
This is an introduction (written by the Secretariat to the Treasury) of the book, Putting It Together, which highlights distinguishing characteristics of New Zealand’s financial management system.

Putting it Together — Chapter One: Introducing Public Sector Financial Management
Author:
New Zealand Treasury
This chapter is part of an extended analysis of issues surrounding public sector financial management in New Zealand. It outlines the purpose of the New Zealand public sector financial management system, the context in which it operates, and its legislative framework.

Putting it Together — Chapter Two: Explaining Key Concepts
Author:
New Zealand Treasury
This chapter is part of an extended analysis of issues surrounding public sector financial management in New Zealand. It introduces some key concepts, such as inputs, outputs and outcomes, which are necessary for an understanding of the system as it operates in New Zealand. It also provides the distinction between the purchase and ownership perspective.

Putting it Together — Chapter Three: Planning and Budgeting
Author:
New Zealand Treasury
This chapter is part of an extended analysis of issues surrounding public sector financial management in New Zealand. It provides an overview of the budget process in New Zealand, which consists of a number of elements, such as strategic phase, development of budget initiatives, review of budget baselines, and consideration of proposed budget initiatives.

Putting it Together — Chapter Four: Authority from Parliament
Author:
New Zealand Treasury
This chapter is part of an extended analysis on issues surrounding public sector financial management. Here, the New Zealand Treasury lays out the principles of its Appropriation Acts. Apropriation ensures that Parliament, on behalf of the taxpayer has adequate scrutiny of how public resources are to be used and that the Government is held accountable for how it has used entrusted public resources.

Putting it Together — Chapter Five: Managing Efficiency
Author:
New Zealand Treasury
This chapter is part of an extended analysis of issues surrounding public sector financial management. It outlines some specific mechanisms for “fine-tuning” the system to gain efficiencies and better value for money. It describes some of the financial management tools that improve the performance of the public sector, including Strategic Result Areas (SRAs) and Key Result Areas (KRAs).

Putting it Together — Chapter Six: The Wider Crown Estate
Author:
New Zealand Treasury
This chapter is part of an extended analysis of issues surrounding public sector financial management. It outlines the accountability requirements for the numerous government organizations outside the ministries and government departments. There is also a section on Crown entities and departments in the education and health sectors.

Putting it Together — Chapter Seven: Reporting on Results
Author:
New Zealand Treasury
This chapter is part of an extended analysis of issues surrounding public sector financial management. It outlines financial reporting requirements for departments, state-owned enterprises, crown entities, and the New Zealand government as a whole.

Putting it Together — Chapter Eight: Scrutiny by Parliament
Author:
New Zealand Treasury
This chapter is part of an extended analysis of issues surrounding public sector financial management in New Zealand. This chapter describes the scrutiny of proposed appropriations and the final results reported in the annual reports which governmental organizations provide to Parliament. It also discusses Parliament’s power to grant “Imprest Supply” in advance of appropriations and the use of the Controller function to monitor payments against supply and appropriations, and further explains the Government’s right to vote over new spending proposals.

Putting it Together — Chapter Nine: Putting It Together (also contains Appendix A and C and the Index)
Author:
New Zealand Treasury
This chapter is part of an extended analysis of issues surrounding public sector financial management in New Zealand. This chapter summarizes the existing public sector financial management system and how it is evolving.

Strategic Plan of the Office of Management and Budget
Author:
Office of Management and Budget (US)
This is a Strategic Plan of the central budget agency, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in the United States. It provides an overview of its mission, roles, and goals. OMB advocates the appropriate allocation and effective utilization of government resources, and assists the President in the preparation of the federal budget and in managing its execution in the departments and agencies.

The Budget Preparation Process
Author: Salvatore Schiavo-Campo and Daniel Tommasi
Asian Development Bank
This chapter is part of a comprehensive manual, Managing Government Expenditure, based on a sound conceptual foundation but with a deliberate operational thrust, covering the entire public expenditure management cycle – from multiyear expenditure programming and budget formulation through budget execution, audit, and evaluation. This chapter focuses on core processes of budget preparation and on mechanism of aggregate expenditure control and strategic allocation of resources. Please visit the following website for more chapters: http://www.adb.org/documents/manuals/govt_expenditure/

Organizational Issues in Budget Preparation and the Budget Approval Process
Author: Salvatore Schiavo-Campo and Daniel Tommasi
Asian Development Bank
This chapter is part of a comprehensive manual, Managing Government Expenditure, based on a sound conceptual foundation but with a deliberate operational thrust, covering the entire public expenditure management cycle – from multiyear expenditure programming and budget formulation through budget execution, audit, and evaluation. This chapter emphasizes the importance of an overall strategic framework and the supportive institutional arrangement. Please visit the following website for more chapters: http://www.adb.org/documents/manuals/govt_expenditure/

Managing and Monitoring Budget Implementation
Author: Salvatore Schiavo-Campo and Daniel Tommasi
Asian Development Bank
The Chapter includes a discussion on procurement, accounting and management tools.

Cash Management and the Treasury Function
Author: Salvatore Schiavo-Campo and Daniel Tommasi
Asian Development Bank
This chapter is part of a comprehensive manual, Managing Government Expenditure, based on a sound conceptual foundation but with a deliberate operational thrust, covering the entire public expenditure management cycle – from multiyear expenditure programming and budget formulation through budget execution, audit, and evaluation. The treasury function is central to the efficient implementation and management of budget. This chapter includes an in-depth presentation of the Treasury’s operations. Please visit the following website for more chapters: http://www.adb.org/documents/manuals/govt_expenditure/

Budgeting Reforms in OECD Member Countries
Author: Jim Brumby
Asian Development Bank
The Chapter gives an interesting up-date of the recent developments in budgetary management.

How To Get There from Here: The Strategy and Sequencing of Budgetary Reform
Author: Salvatore Schiavo-Campo and Daniel Tommasi
Asian Development Bank
The final Chapter draws on the lessons from previous Chapters for a discussion on strategy and priority in budget reform.

Public Management Service. Budgeting in Sweden
Author: Jon Blondal
OECD
This report is part of a series of accounts on the budgeting practices of OECD member countries, in this case Sweden. The report maintains that Sweden has comprehensively removed input controls but the development of an effective accountability regime based on results has been lagging, a problem that is by no means unique to Sweden.

Public Management Service. Budgeting in Canada
Author: Jon Blondal
OECD
This report is part of a series of accounts on the budgeting practices in OECD member countries, in this case Canada. The report concludes that Canada has made significant progress in reducing centralized controls and in introducing managerial flexibility.

A Guide to Participatory Budgeting
Author: Brian Wampler

This paper examines Brazilian participatory budgeting programs designed to incorporate citizens into the policymaking process, spur administrative reform, and distribute public resources to low-income neighborhoods. The guide explores the mechanisms of participatory budgeting, the results of this approach, and its potential applicability elsewhere.

Transparency and Participation in the South Africa Budget Process
Author: Alta Fölscher, Warren Krafchik and Isaac Shapiro
IDASA/ IBP
Within the South African context, this paper examines the importance of fiscal transparency and participation of legislatures and civil society in government decision-making, required for better budgetary outcomes.

Gender Responsive Budgeting in Pakistan: Experience and Lessons Learned
Author: Nadeem Mahbub and Debbie Budlender

This article describes the experience and lesson learned to date during the implementation of gender responsive budgeting in Pakistan through a dedicated project ‘Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiative’. The article provides the background, and details on GRB activities undertaken including implementation of various GRB tools, steps taken to gender sensitize the budgetary processes, linkages and synergies developed, and challenges and lesson learned so far.

Budget Institutions and Fiscal Performance in Latin America
Author: Alberto Alesina, Ricardo Hausmann, Rudolf Hommes, and Ernesto H. Stein
Inter-American Development Bank
Information on Latin American budget institutions with examples of transparent procedures related to fiscal discipline.

What is a Gender Audit? Introduction to "Gender Audits", "Gender Budgets", and "Women
Author: Barbara Swirski
Adva Center
Overview of a gender audit understood as a way to "locate women" in the national budget as well as in the economy. The author highlights the importance of a gender audit to ensure that men and women benefit equally from budget allocations, to raise women's awareness of economic issues in order to stimulate their involvement in the budget-making process, and to promote a more efficient use of the resources committed to areas relevant to women. The paper draws primarily from the Israel context, but also presents brief examples from Australia, Canada, England, France, and South Africa.

The OECD Journal on Budgeting
Author: Geert van Maanen, Peter Boxall, Naoki Edahiro, Gerd Ehlers, Richard Emery, Eva Lindstrom, Sophie Mahieux, Peter Saurer.
OECD
The OECD Journal on Budgeting offers a resource for policy-makers, officials and researchers in public sector budgeting. It also provides an insight on leading-edge institutional arrangements, systems and instruments for the effective and efficient allocation and management of resources in the public sector.

The Budget Process in Peru: Is a Participative Budget too Risky?
Author: Claudia Gonzales del Valle and Eduardo Moron
Universidad del Pacifico, Department of Economics
It provides an overview of the budget process in Peru and describes the role of the Congress and civil society in its system. It points out the weak participation in the budget process by the Congress and also the restricted access to budget information by the civil society.

The Challenge of a Participative Budget Process in Peru
Author: Claudia Gonzales del Valle and Eduardo Moron
Universidad del Pacifico, Department of Economics
Highlights the absence of effective budget transparency mechanisms in Peru, and the role and challenge of local governments and Congress to achieve feedback mechanisms.

OECD Best Practices for Budget Transparency
Author: Jon Blondal
OECD
Reference tool for budget transparency as an element for good governance. Looks at the content of budget reports governments should produce and ways of ensuring their quality and integrity. This resource is particular interest to OECD member and non-member countries interested in improving the level budget transparency in their respective countries.

Local Government Budgeting in Croatia
Author: Katarina Ott and Anto Bajo
Institute of Public Finance
Detailed paper that examines the budgeting functions in local government budgeting in Croatia. The number and size of local government units (LGUs) illustrates the difficulties of an oversized bureaucracy. Includes a glossary of budget terms, and the results and analysis of a poll to identify changes that the Finance Ministry could implement to address local, administrative needs more efficiently.

The Role of Parliament in the Budget Process
Author: Warren Krafchik and Joachim Wehner
IDASA
This paper explains why some parliamentary systems are able to affect greater changes in the budget than other systems.

Idasa
Author: Budget Information Service
IDASA
IDASA's training manual was created to inform social advocates and civil society groups on how to influence public budgeting. This manual introduces the importance of budget work and provides case studies to explain the budget process. [Note: This is a Word Document, which can be downloaded to your directory.]

Fiscal Horizontal Accountability? Toward a theory of Budgetary "Checks and Balances" in Presidential Systems
Author: David Samuels
Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota
Presented at the Conference on Horizontal Accountability in New Democracies (University of Notre Dame, May 2000), this paper studies the politics of budgeting in presidential systems outside the United States. It focuses on the formulation and approval stages of the budget process and the political factors that determine spending priorities.

Child-Focused Budget Study: Assessing the Rights to Education of Children with Disabilities in Vietnam
Author: Save the Children, Sweden
Save the Children, Sweden
The focus of this study is the budget for education at the district level in Vietnam. It examines three elementary schools, which are conducting inclusive education for children with disabilities. The study aims to analyze the budget process from the central level down to the district level, as well as to obtain relevant information on the content of school budgets. By identifying the role of various institutions and their channels for budget intervention, the study also clarifies crucial links between policy commitments and actual outcomes. The real impact of expenditure was best exemplified by the three case studies. The study also provides general social, political, and economic information, focusing on the general budget process at central level of Vietnam.

Dollars and Sense for a Better Childhood: A Palestinian Child-Focused Budget Study
Author: Save the Children, Sweden
Secretariat for the National Plan of Action for Palestinian Children
The study gives a brief introduction to the history and socio-economic status of West Bank/Palestine. The report is organized around four main elements: a) a guide to the Palestinian budget from a child rights perspective with a general overview of social sector spending; b) an analysis of education spending in Palestine; c) an assessment of the Palestinian social welfare sector; and d) a child-focused budget comparison of two Palestinian municipalities. By extracting lessons from these four components, the study hopes to inform legislators, ministerial finance departments, civil society, and children themselves about the budgetary issues and processes that impact upon child rights in Palestine.

Building a Consensus for Fiscal Reform: The Chilean Case
Author: Mario Marcel and Marcelo Tokman
OECD
This paper was presented at the Forum on Ensuring Accountability and Transparency in the Public Sector held in December 2001 in Brasilia, Brazil, organized in cooperation with the Public Ethics Commission and Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management, Brazil, and in association with United Nations, Escola de Administração Fazendária (ESAF) and Escola Nacional de Administração Pública (ENAP), Brazil. The paper describes the second generation of fiscal reforms aimed at strengthening fiscal governance implemented in Chile since the mid-1990s.

Performance and Transparency: Are Australia's "Leading Edge" Systems Really Working?
Author: Tyrone M. Carlin
OECD
This paper was presented at the Forum on Ensuring Accountability and Transparency in the Public Sector held in December 2001 in Brasilia, Brazil, organized in cooperation with the Public Ethics Commission and Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management, Brazil, and in association with United Nations, Escola de Administração Fazendária (ESAF) and Escola Nacional de Administração Pública (ENAP), Brazil. The author examines a set of budget papers to identify the use of performance information within current budget papers. This analysis stems from the already known gaps between the claimed nature and the actual practices of central public sector budgeting.

The Health Budget in Karnataka
Author: A. Indira and Vinod Vyasulu
Center for Budget and Policy Studies
This study looks at public health expenditure data in the state of Karnataka, India. It analyzes urban and rural health services, as well as revenue, capital, and loan accounts for public health services and other related sectors like water supply and sanitation; social security and welfare; nutrition; and family welfare.

Parliamentary Budgeting in Hungary and Slovenia
Author: Lance T. LeLoup
Washington State University. [Study sponsored by the National Council for Eastern European and Eurasian Research (NCEEER)]
This paper evaluates the overall impact of Parliaments on budgeting in Hungary and Slovenia and examines whether the role of legislative budgeting should be strengthened.

Budgeting in Hungary during the Democratic Transition
Author: Andrea Dietz, Mihaly Hogye, Lance T. LeLoup, Zoltan Papai, Laszlo Urban, and Laszlo Varadi
This article is posted with PrAcademics Press' permission www.pracademicspress.com
This article examines budgeting in Hungary since 1989, beginning with an analysis of the comparative budgeting literature in an attempt to identify an appropriate theoretical framework for the study. Then it explores budgetary definition and measurement problems, debt and economic conditions, external actors and constraints on the budget, budget institutions and process, and the impact of Parliament on the budget and concludes by assessing the problems and prospects for Hungarian budgeting.

The Viability of Fiscal Policy in South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand
Author: Tsangyao Chang, WenRong Liu and Michael Thompson
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
An analysis of the impact of neo-Keynesian policies in three Asian Tigers in the aftermath of the 1997 financial crisis. Using sophisticated statistical techniques applied to data on taxes, spending and income the authors seek to evaluate the viability of expansionary fiscal policy to stimulate growth.

On the Use of Budgetary Norms as A Tool For Fiscal Management
Author: James Alm and Jorge Martinez-Vazquez
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
The paper argues that there is a trend - in the eighteen countries examined - for budget controls and procedures to become less complex, particularly when looking at the assessment of their expenditure needs. The paper offers some lesson learnt and policy recommendations.

Exigibilidad del derecho a la salud ("Demanding the Right to Health")
Author:
Center for Social and Economic Rights "Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales" (CDES)
Towards the end of 2000, CDES, based in Ecuador started a law suit before the Interamerican Court to demand the fulfillment of the right to health. The case was based on the fact that despite the increase on the health budget for 1999 this increment was less than the previous year, which goes against the progressive realization of human rights and the principle of allocating the maximum of available resources for the fulfillment of economic, social and cultural rights.

Strengthening Participation in Public Expenditure Management:Policy Recommendations for Key Stakeholders
Author: Jeremy Heimans
OECD
This policy brief analyzes the roles of government, civil society, and legislatures in the development of the budget. Jeremy Heimans examines the stages of the budget process - formulation, analysis, and tracking of the budget -, identifies opportunities and risks for participatory budgeting through different case studies.

Local Government Reform in Tanzania: Considerations for the Development of a System of Formula-Based Grants
Author: Jason Boex, Jose Martinez-Vazquez
International Studies Program, Georgia State University
This analysis proposes a rules-based mechanism to combat the non-transparent, conditional budget process in Tanzania. Current policy centralizes the distribution of funds, although local governments are responsible for administering services. Challenges in eliminating ambiguity and inefficiency through the proposed decentralization process are also addressed.

Organizing Participatory Processes in the PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers)
Author: S. Tikare, D. Youssef, P. Donnelly-Roark and P. Shah
World Bank
This is a World Bank guide for creating PRSPs that fully utilize participation by all stakeholders. Incorporating case studies and examples, this paper provides concrete advice and recommendations for the roles of civil society, the private sector, and the government, throughout the budget process.

Promoting Accountability in the Budget Cycle: The Experiences of the Public Service Accountability Monitor in South Africa
Author: Xolisa Vitsha
Public Service Accountability Monitor in South Africa (PSAM)
This paper was prepared for the 11th Anti-Corruption Conference that took place in South Korea on May, 2003. The presentation introduces PSAM's Performance Monitoring Project, which compiles information on the performance of Eastern Cape and selected national government departments in South Africa. The study looks at audit disclaimers and other measures of financial control and looks at specific programs, such as the School Nutrition and Feed Scheme and District Health programs.

Gender-Responsive Government Budgeting
Author: Feridoun Sarraf
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
This working paper provides thorough information on gender mainstreaming in the budget process. By investigating analytical and technical tools of gender-responsive government budgeting (GRGB), this analysis reveals the main obstacles in the direction and implementation of gender sensitive budgets within developing countries, including gender-biased cultures and lack of gender analysis expertise and gender-disaggregated data in most government organizations. Finally, the article offers a summary of multilateral organizations' activities in promoting (GRGB) around the world, in both developed and developing countries.

Budget Transparency: Kenyan Perspective
Author: Albert K. Mwenda and Mary N. Gachocho
IEA
This study provides a comprehensive review and analysis of the Kenyan budget process based on responses from various stakeholders in the process. The study covers issues related to participation, budget information, and budget accountability. The overall conclusions reveal that non-governmental stakeholders, audit firms, civil society organizations, and academics, find the overall budget legal and institutional framework weak and in need of review. Ending with a detailed Proposed Plan of Action, the study provides certain broad strategies to increase the transparency and accessibility of the budget process.

2004 Pre-Budget Statement. "People's Budget". Recommendations and Contributions
Author: Besinati Mpepo
Civil Society of Poverty Reduction (CSPR)
This brief paper reflects on the voices of the poor in the budget formulation and execution stages through a pre-budget statement. The paper looks at the current levels of poverty in Zambia and put an emphasis on the importance of civil society participation during the budget process to better serve public expenditure accountability goals.

Legislatures and the Budget Process: An International Survey
Author:
National Endowment for Democracy
This report details the international trends of legislative involvement in budget making, budget influencing, and budget approving. Descriptions of the budget processes in numerous developed and developing countries are provided. The report details that despite an ingrained bias toward executive control of the budget process, legislatures are increasing their influence in this arena.

The Role of Parliament in the Budgetary Process. The Example of the Croatian Parliament (2000-2003)
Author: Vjekoslav Bratic
Institute of Public Finance
This paper discusses the fact that the Croatian Parliament rarely modifies its government's budget proposal in spite of its ability to do so. The author investigates the evolution of the relationship between parliaments and the budget from 2000-2003 in order to provide recommendations for improving Croatia's budget process.

Who Decides on Public Expenditures? A Political Economy Analysis of the Budget Process: The Case of Argentina
Author: Emmanuel Abuelafia, Sergio Berensztein, Miguel Braun, and Lucuano di Gresia
Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth
The study is an examination of Argentina’s budget process, its cadres, political influences and key actors. The paper is divided into seven sections which address different facets of the issue such as the political and economic environment of the budget process, an analysis of its actual workings and fiscal policy reforms and outcomes. Argentina’s president is undoubtedly the major player in the budget process and this together with other constraints such as the strength of some recent macroeconomic shocks - and to a lesser degree, fiscal rules, agreements with International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and the influence of other actors such as governors, legislators and lobbies - have limited the ability of the Executive to substantially modify the budget process. The paper highlights the fact that Argentina has improved its budget process and fiscal outcomes significantly by engaging in several avenues of reform such as coordinating mechanisms between the federal and provincial governments, capacity building in Congress and the improving of expenditure evaluation.

Making Public Finance Public
Author: Katarina Ott
Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative
The three case studies presented in this publication explore subnational budgeting in Croatia, Macedonia, and Ukraine. The publication also includes a cross-country synthesis particularly useful to those in universities, civil society organizations, parliaments, and the media who are concerned with improving transparency and accountability in public financial management.

Fostering Public Participation in Budget-making
Author: Raza Ahmad and Erin Thébault Weiser
Asian Development Bank
This publication documents the experiences of pilot testing participatory budgeting at the local level in Indonesia, Marshall Islands, and Pakistan. The pilot testing suggests that civil society's engagement is not difficult to elicit provided local governments have the political will and technical resources. Using simple, effective, and low-cost methods, local governments can promote transparency and openness in their decision making. The authors conclude that transparency is vital for good governance and that it leads to economic growth and poverty reduction in the long term.

Study Trip on Participatory Budgeting to the Paris Region
Author:
Governance International (GI)
This trip report describes the participatory budgeting practices of three Paris region local councils: Issy-les-Moulineaux, Bobigny, and Saint-Denis. The study compares three different ways of transferring the Porto Alegre model into a European context and the different approaches of organizing neighborhood councils and involving young people and other 'hard-to-reach' groups.

Strengthening Legislative Financial Scrutiny in Developing Countries
Author: Joachim Wehner with Klaus Brösamle, Taylor Dimsdale, Mads Aarøe Mathiesen, Tilman Merz, and Elena Mondo
UK Department for International Development (DFID)
In this paper the authors present the budget process from a legislative perspective and discuss the challenges to financial scrutiny in developing countries, as well as the benefits and risks of legislative strengthening. The global survey carried out as part of this project indicates that legislative strengthening work focusing on financial scrutiny is not widespread. The study examines the role of donors, in general, and of the Department for International Development (DFID), in particular, to enhance legislative capacity for financial scrutiny. The paper also offers recommendations and an extensive bibliography.

Assessing the Power of the Purse: An Index of Legislative Budget Institutions
Author: Joachim Wehner
London School of Economics
This article presents an index that ranked 36 countries according to how much control the legislature has over the budget, based on the legislative budget institutions in each country. The article reveals substantial variation in the level of financial scrutiny of government by the legislature amongst contemporary democracies. A number of Wehner’s findings demand our attention. For example, the UK and Canada, both of which have (relatively) highly developed economies, fell into the bottom quartile of countries in terms of legislative control over the budget, alongside Chile and South Africa. Argentina and Mexico, meanwhile, were close to the top quartile, alongside Belgium and Germany.

Behind Closed Doors: The role of the IMF in shaping budget policies and processes
Author: Paolo de Renzio with Matteo Bocci and Kristy Kamarck
Bank Information Center and International Budget Project
This paper provides an overview of the work of the IMF, the instruments it uses in fulfilling its function, and the ways in which these instruments impact on budgets in developing countries. The paper also describes the interaction of IMF and country governments and identifies the opportunities (or lack of) for civil society engagement in this process.

Lets Talk About Budget
Author: Subrat Das
Center for Budget and Governance Accountability
This booklet is meant to help the interested but uninitiated reader in comprehending some of the important aspects of Government Budgeting in India.

Primer on Civil Society Budget Work
Author: Siba Shankar Mohanty, Deepak L. Xavier, Pooja Parvati
Center for Budget and Governance Accountability
The guide provides information and techniques on issues related to budgetary provisions and public finance issues for civil society institutions engaged in budget work and advocacy as well as for field level functionaries associated with implementing programs on budget and policy advocacy.

2007 OECD Budget Practices and Procedures Database
Author:
OECD
This second edition of the OECD Budget Practices and Procedures Database has been revised since it was last compiled in 2003. The OECD Database is designed as an easily searchable reference for budget practitioners and others interested in comparing national budgeting and financial management processes to share experiences and best practices. The responses from the new survey are available on this interface for 38 countries, including the 30 OECD member countries and 8 non-members: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Israel, Peru, Slovenia, and Venezuela. The survey was conducted via an online questionnaire, which was available in English, French, and Spanish, although the updated database is currently only available in English.

Participatory Budgeting in Africa: A Training Companion with Cases from Eastern and Southern Africa
Author:
UN-Habitat; Municipal Development Partnership Eastern and Southern Africa
Participatory budgeting in Africa is part of an effort to build the capacity of local government officials and their partners for greater accountability and good governance. This companion guide is aimed at helping local governments and other stakeholders prepare for, design, initiate and manage a participatory budgeting process by training key actors who initiate the budgeting processes.

Brazil Toward a More Inclusive and Effective Participatory Budget in Porto Alegre
Author:
World Bank
This report presents a substantive assessment of the current challenges faced by participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre, evaluates its fiscal and social impacts, and provides recommendations to improve the process.

Institutional Constraints on Profligate Politicians: The Conditional Effect of Partisan Fragmentation on Budget Deficits
Author: Joachim Wehner
London School of Economics
The research on the common pool resource problem in public budgeting has looked primarily at the independent effects of the two factors but has not explored the extent to which the interplay between them influences fiscal policy. What Wehner finds in his analysis of panel data from 57 countries from 1975 to 1998 is “consistent evidence that partisan fragmentation in the legislature is associated with higher deficits only when it is not moderated by limits on parliamentary amendment authority.” Wehner addresses the implications his findings have on policies related to electoral reforms and budget institutions and identifies areas for future research, such as exploring the interaction of the two types of fragmentation within the executive and at different stages of the budget process. In order to pursue these opportunities, data needs to be gathered that will allow for more fine-grained institutional measures in more countries.

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