Decision Strategies of the Legislative Budget Analyst: Economist or Politician?

Willoughby, Katherine G.; Finn, Mary A.

doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.jpart.a024325

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…A similar perspective of budget decision‐making can be found in Willoughby and Finn () who, although they considered budget analysts, found that decision‐making followed patterns that reflected different budget cues. The Bureaucrat type focuses on agency workload/efficiency and reputation of agency head; the Politico type on the gubernatorial agenda, legislative agenda, agency head reputation, and/or public support; Mixed value combines aspects of these first two types; Rationalist focuses on agency workload and agency acquisitiveness; and the Incrementalist on agency acquisitiveness.…”

Section: Agency Budget Decisionssupporting

confidence: 57%

An Assessment of Factors Important to Legislators in Budget Decisions; How Much Impact Can Agencies Have?

Smith

Jensen

2017

Public Budgeting & Finance

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Budget deliberations represent a dynamic interaction between many actors, including agency officials and legislators. There may be opposing perceptions about the relative importance of various types of information and there are likely many priority items that legislators base their decisions on, which budget officials may, or may not, have the ability to impact or control. Through a survey of state legislators, we first determined the relative importance of 27 items in approving budget proposals. Agency officials were surveyed and asked to rate the degree that they can impact each of the 27 items. We considered how the difference in party affiliation of legislators relates to the type of information they view as important in budget decisions. We then compared the importance ratings of legislators with the impact ratings of budget officials, which led to some recommendations aimed at agency officials.

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Section: Agency Budget Decisionssupporting

confidence: 57%

An Assessment of Factors Important to Legislators in Budget Decisions; How Much Impact Can Agencies Have?

Smith

Jensen

2017

Public Budgeting & Finance

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“…Political and analytical cues influence analysts' decision making (Goodman & Clynch, 2004;Thurmaier & Willougby, 2001;Thurmaier, 1995;Thurmaier, 1992;Willoughby, 1993;Willoughby & Finn, 1996). One executive budget analyst from Nevada remarked about political and democratic influence over his state's budget: Democracy gets into the budget process and manifests itself.…”

Section: The Executive Budget Officementioning

confidence: 99%

Executive budget analysts and legislative budget analysts: state budgetary gatekeepers

Goodman

2008

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting &Amp; Financial Management

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Many studies of the budgetary process focus on the national government while ignoring the state budgetary process and state budgetary actors. Executive budget analysts and legislative budget analysts are important gatekeepers in the budgetary process. These actors were surveyed to ascertain what influences their decisions and to determine what responsibilities are included in their job duties. The results show that many similarities exist between executive budget analysts and legislative budget analysts. Legislative budget analysts are more involved in the budgetary process than many believe.Consequently, they play important "gatekeeping" roles in the budgetary process.

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“…Ultimately, we know that budget actors consider economic and political factors when making spending decisions (see, for example, Grizzle 1986;Stanford 1992;Thurmaier 1992Thurmaier , 1995Willoughby 1993;Willoughby and Finn 1996). While past reforms may not have realized substantial cuts or shifts in funding, they influenced the decision context of budget actors.…”

Section: Performance-related Budget Reform In the United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Budgeters' Views of State Performance‐Budgeting Systems: Distinctions across Branches

Melkers

Willoughby

2001

Public Administration Review

102

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Budgeters' Views of State Performance-Budgeting Systems: Distinctions across BranchesGiven that a majority of states have had some sort of performance-budgeting initiative on the books for several years, how has implementation of such reform progressed? To answer this question, we surveyed legislative and executive budgeters from the 50 states, asking them for their impressions of performance-budgeting implementation in their state. Specifically, we asked these budget officers about the reasons for introducing performance budgeting in their state; the types of activities required of their system; responsible oversight bodies; extent of application across state agencies and departments; and perceived levels of effectiveness and problems experienced with implementation of the budget reform. Our findings indicate that implementation of performance-based budgeting systems is proceeding slowly. While there are some benefits to highlight, results show that implementing performance budgeting is not without problems-perhaps the greatest being differing perceptions of use and success among budget players, particularly across branches of government. Julia E. Melkers is an associate professor of public administration at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. Her teaching and research interests are performance measurement, public management, and science-and technology-based economic development. She has worked with several governmental organizations in the areas of performance assessment and performance-measurement development. Email: jmelkers@gsu.edu.Katherine G. Willoughby is an associate professor of public administration at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. Her teaching and research interests are public budgeting, financial management, and policy analysis. She has conducted extensive research in the area of state government budget process, specifically relating to the decisions of executive and legislative budgeters. She has also worked with a number of governments and governmental organizations regarding technology, privacy, and government performance.

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Decision Strategies of the Legislative Budget Analyst: Economist or Politician?

Cited by 13 publications

References 29 publications

An Assessment of Factors Important to Legislators in Budget Decisions; How Much Impact Can Agencies Have?

An Assessment of Factors Important to Legislators in Budget Decisions; How Much Impact Can Agencies Have?

Executive budget analysts and legislative budget analysts: state budgetary gatekeepers

Budgeters' Views of State Performance‐Budgeting Systems: Distinctions across Branches

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