Seven habits of unsustainable budget building

A state policy perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID20201511
AuthorsJosephine M Laplante (University of Southern Maine, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume23
Issue2
Pages215-267
Publication date2011-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Public Budgeting Accounting & Financial Management (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1096-3367 • E-ISSN: 1945-1814
PublisherEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/jpbafm-23-02-2011-b004
OpenAlexW2773463407
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited10

The magnitude and immediacy of threats to the sustainability of state government programs call for significant changes in how we think about and make policies that influence the public budget. The Great Recession's prolonged battering of state budgets exhausted cutback strategies and has left policy makers with few options, producing a decision gridlock that is inescapable using traditional functional and line-item budget perspectives and embedded practices. Transforming state budgets requires an uncommon view. This paper identifies and describes seven overarching and pervasive habits in state policy making that contribute to unsustainable budgets. Although the applicability and commonness of each habit will vary by state, both individually and as a set the seven habits impart important handles for gaining greater control over a state's fiscal directions and fortunes

Business · Economic growth · Economic policy · Economics · Gridlock · Immediacy · Macroeconomics · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Public policy · Recession · Computer Science · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Local Government Finance and Decentralization

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