{"title":"Performance Measurement and Budget Balancing: State Government Perspective","authors":"Katherine G. Willoughby","doi":"10.1111/J.0275-1100.2004.02402002.X","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/J.0275-1100.2004.02402002.X","url":null,"abstract":"This research assesses the perspectives of budget officers and agency personnel in state governments about performance measurement applicability for budgeting purposes. Results show that both perspectives consider performance measurement use effective for improving communication, increasing awareness about results, improving service quality, and changing strategies to reach certain results. Then again, the use of performance information is not found as effective, often not at all, for cost or program cutting, or for changing spending levels. This suggests that while today's governors might need to temper their expectations regarding the usefulness of performance initiatives to support budget balancing in the short run, they should remain steadfast in promoting performance measurement applicability for the long-term benefits recognized by both budgeters and agency staff.","PeriodicalId":135866,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Public Budgeting & Finance","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2004-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133344652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Risk Aversion and the Pricing of Municipal Bonds","authors":"Kenneth A. Kriz","doi":"10.1111/J.0275-1100.2004.02402005.X","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/J.0275-1100.2004.02402005.X","url":null,"abstract":"Risk aversion in the municipal bond market has been an assumption of most discussions regarding the municipal bond market, but has not been formally documented. The research in this article tests for the presence of risk aversion through comparing a risk-neutral bond yield with the observed yields on municipal bonds. A significant level of risk aversion is found to exist in the municipal bond market.","PeriodicalId":135866,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Public Budgeting & Finance","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2004-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128029120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Public Pension Funds and Operating Budgets: A Tale of Three States","authors":"Jun Peng","doi":"10.1111/J.0275-1100.2004.02402004.X","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/J.0275-1100.2004.02402004.X","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides a normative framework for understanding the important link between public pension fund management and government operating budgets. Three aspects of pension fund management are discussed that have a significant impact on the operating budget: pension contribution, investment strategy, and the funding of pension liabilities. Three cases concerning West Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City are discussed to illustrate these three important aspects. The normative framework and the case studies demonstrate two important principles in prudently managing public pension funds: ensuring intergenerational equity and protecting the long-term health of government budgets.","PeriodicalId":135866,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Public Budgeting & Finance","volume":"102 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2004-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128606505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"In Search of True Public Arts Support","authors":"A. Brooks","doi":"10.1111/J.0275-1100.2004.02402006.X","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/J.0275-1100.2004.02402006.X","url":null,"abstract":"Most of the debate over government arts support focuses on direct subsidies to nonprofit arts organizations. In this article, however, I show that a much larger amount of public sector money comes from indirect aid, in the form of tax revenues forgone on tax-deductible contributions by individuals. Specifically, every dollar in direct federal arts funding is accompanied by about $14 in indirect aid. Analysis of the 1996 General Social Survey shows that private givers and supporters of direct government aid fit different demographic profiles, meaning that direct and indirect funding owe to distinct constituencies. These findings lead to a number of implications for nonprofit and public arts managers.","PeriodicalId":135866,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Public Budgeting & Finance","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2004-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124045103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"U.S. State Budget Directors: Characteristics, Experience, and Attitudes","authors":"Robert D. Lee, R. Burns","doi":"10.1111/1540-5850.2302004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5850.2302004","url":null,"abstract":"Much literature exists on state government budgeting, but until now, none existed on state budget directors. This article reports on a survey of these individuals. Their ages, genders, race, education, and work experience are reported. Their work week is discussed in terms of number of hours worked and interactions with their staff, the governor, and the legislature. Attitudes about the job and about their personal lives as related to their jobs are discussed. Their plans for when they leave office are considered. The characteristics and attitudes of the directors are compared with data about their respective states in search of possible linkages.","PeriodicalId":135866,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Public Budgeting & Finance","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115976735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Budgeting During a Recession Phase of the Business Cycle: The Georgia Experience","authors":"Thomas P. Lauth","doi":"10.1111/1540-5850.2302003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5850.2302003","url":null,"abstract":"This article describes the impact of the nation-wide recession on Georgia revenue and spending decisions in the 2002 and 2003 fiscal years. The state's strong economy and conservative revenue estimating practices historically provided a hedge against revenue shortfalls during a recession phase of the business cycle. However, when state revenue collections for FY 2002 were 5 percent less than collections for the prior fiscal year, several gap-closing measures became necessary, including state agency spending reductions and substitution of bond proceeds for tax revenues. These revenue and expenditure gap-closing measures were intended to enable the governor to achieve his policy initiatives while maintaining a balanced budget. The state's Rainy Day Fund remained full and was held in reserve for budget balancing in FY 2004, if necessary. Budget balancing during the current recession has been made possible by the state's practice of not over-committing to program increases and tax cuts during the expansion phase of the business cycle, and by effectively framing the issue of fiscal restraint.","PeriodicalId":135866,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Public Budgeting & Finance","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115453272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Financial Control in Australian Government Budgeting","authors":"M. Robinson","doi":"10.1111/1540-5850.00067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5850.00067","url":null,"abstract":"With the arrival of accrual accounting and a performance budgeting system known as \"accrual output budgeting\", there have been huge changes in the mechanism of central financial control in the budget-dependent Australian public sector. This article outlines and evaluates these changes. The new parliamentary appropriations arrangements are discussed, as is the increased role played by non-appropriated departmental \"own-source\" funding. The commercialisation rationale of these changes is outlined. Consideration is given to their implications for fiscal transparency and democratic accountability.","PeriodicalId":135866,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Public Budgeting & Finance","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131470380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Measuring Municipal Borrowing Costs: How Missing Cost Information Biases Interest Rate Calculations","authors":"Bill Simonsen, Mark D. Robbins","doi":"10.1111/1540-5850.00065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5850.00065","url":null,"abstract":"State and local governments issue billions of dollars' worth of municipal bonds every year. At the same time, no single comprehensive measure has been available for debt managers to apply that fully captures their borrowing costs. In this article we compare a comprehensive measure called the internal financing rate with true interest cost (TIC), applying both to bond sales in Oregon in 1999. We find that the two measures produce statistically and practically different results and conclude that TIC typically understates the real cost of borrowing experienced by issuers. TIC is therefore a flawed measure for reporting results to administrators, elected officials, and the public. It is also an inappropriate measure for evaluating the performance of public debt managers.","PeriodicalId":135866,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Public Budgeting & Finance","volume":"77 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126165387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"State Rainy Day Funds and Fiscal Crises: Rainy Day Funds and the 1990-1991 Recession Revisited","authors":"J. Douglas, Ronald Keith Gaddie","doi":"10.1111/1540-5850.00063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5850.00063","url":null,"abstract":"The recession of the early 1980s prompted many states to establish budget stabilization (rainy day) funds. Initial examinations of rainy day funds find a limited impact by the funds in alleviating fiscal stress. In this article, we propose an enhanced model of rainy day fund impact. Using data from 48 states for the 1990-1991 recession, our analysis indicates that the presence of a number of structural factors and the maintenance of generally large balances in other funds entering recession helps to alleviate fiscal stress when a state's economy is in recession.","PeriodicalId":135866,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Public Budgeting & Finance","volume":"64 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124810305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tax Expenditures in Michigan: A Comparison to Federal Findings","authors":"Kyle I. Jen","doi":"10.1111/1540-5850.00064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5850.00064","url":null,"abstract":"A substantial literature exists on federal tax expenditures, but almost no empirical research has been done on state tax expenditures. This article examines Michigan tax expenditures, with an emphasis on comparison to findings from the federal level. Three major topics are addressed: (1) allocation of resources by policy area, (2) distribution of tax expenditure benefits by income class, and (3) tax expenditure growth over time. Only the findings on resource allocation are consistent with findings from the federal level, suggesting that simple theories may be insufficient to systematically describe tax expenditures.","PeriodicalId":135866,"journal":{"name":"Wiley-Blackwell: Public Budgeting & Finance","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114173272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}