A government's budget represents a statement of its priorities. During the past 25 years, the international community has recognized that gender equality is essential for sustainable economic growth and full social development, and it has called upon nations to use their budgets to promote genderequitable resource allocation and revenue generation. More than 60 countries have answered this call by implementing gender-responsive budgets at the national and subnational levels. However, gender-responsive budgeting is virtually unheard of among public finance scholars and U.S. public administration scholars and practitioners. Here we define gender-responsive budgeting, discuss the need for it, describe the lessons learned, and discuss its potential as a budget reform. We hope our commentary will bring gender-responsive budgeting into the mainstream of research in the U.S. public administration community and into the practice of government budgeting.
This research compares state budget balancing strategies taken during the COVID‐19 pandemic and the Great Recession of 2007–2009. Distinguishing features of the two crises, as well as differences among the states, lead them to engage such strategies in similar and dissimilar ways. Federal aid during both fiscal disasters is also distinctive. During the Great Recession, federal stimulus funds to states supported budget balancing efforts. In contrast, until the COVID‐19 relief bill of March 2021, federal assistance was primarily funneled directly to individuals and businesses and for pandemic‐specific spending. This left states on their own to close budget gaps fueled by COVID‐19.
Budgetary pressures have made it necessary to consider the effectiveness of urban enterprise zones. These geographically targeted tax incentives programs are widespread. But whether and to what extent these programs spur economic development is not known. The article presents an evaluation of urban enterprise zones in New Jersey in terms of costs and economic impacts, including industrial output, tax revenue, and job creation.
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