Some of the best writings on public budgeting and finance can be found in the journals that ASPA publishes or sponsors. For this volume editor Irene Rubin has brought together the best of these articles - emerging classics that address the most important theoretical and practical problems underlying public budgeting.The anthology is organized topically rather than historically, with an effort to delineate the issues needed to understand some of the more recent controversies in the field. Rubin's introductory essay and section openers frame the key issues and provide historical context for each article. The collection begins with descriptions of what public budgeting is, where it comes from, and what it is for. It moves on to the relationship between budget processes and outcomes, constraints on budgeting, the legal context in which it operates, and adaptations to those constraints such as contracting out.The book concludes with a discussion of the ethics and norms that underlie budgeting in a democracy. Throughout the anthology, the emphasis is on areas of disagreement and debate, so students can get involved and explore different viewpoints.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 What is a Public Budget? Origins and Purposes; Chapter 1 Making “Common Sense” of Federal Budgeting, Joseph White; Chapter 2 Who Invented Budgeting in the United States?, Irene S. Rubin; Chapter 3 The Road to Ppb, Allen Schick; Part 2 Budgeting in a Democracy; Institutional Arrangements; Chapter 4 Paradox, Ambiguity, and Enigma, Naomi Caiden; Chapter 5 The Executive Budget, Bernard T. Pitsvada; Chapter 6 The End of Executive Dominance in State Appropriations, Glenn Abney, Thomas P. Lauth; Chapter 7 Budgeting by the Ballot, Krishna K. Tummala, Marilyn F. Wessel; Part 3 The Roles of the Key Budget Actors and Decision Making; subpart3.1 Role of the Executive Budget Office; Chapter 8 The Office of Management and Budget in a Changing Scene, Frederick C. Mosher, Max O. StephensonJr.; Chapter 9 The Shifting Roles of State Budget offices in the Midwest, Kurt Thurmaier, James J. Gosling; subpart3.2 The Courts—When and How They Intervene; Chapter 10 Courts and Public Purse Strings, Jeffrey D. Straussman; subpart3.3 The Bureaucracy; Chapter 11 Federal Agency Budget Officers, Herbert G. Persil; Chapter 12 The Budget-Minimizing Bureaucrat?, Julie Dolan; subpart3.4 Incrementalism; Chapter 13 Police Budgeting, Charles K. Coe, Deborah Lamm Weisel; Chapter 14 Aaron Wildavsky and the Demise of Incrementalism, Irene S. Rubin; Chapter 15 Decision Strategies of the Legislative Budget Analyst, Katherine G. Willoughby, Mary A. Finn; Part 4 The Budget Process; Chapter 16 Ten Years of the Budget Act, Louis Fisher; Chapter 17 Deficit Politics and Constitutional Government, Lance T. LeLoup, Barbara Luck Graham, Stacey Barwick; Chapter 18 The Budget Enforcement Act and its Survival, Philip G. Joyce; Chapter 19 Does Budget Format Really Govern the Actions of Budgetmakers?, Gloria A. Grizzle; Chapter 20 Participatory Democracy and Budgeting, Jerry McCaffery, John H. Bowman; Part 5 Constraints; subpart5.1 Federalism; Chapter 21 Changes in Intergovernmental Fiscal Patterns, George F. Break; Chapter 22 At What Price?, Marcella Ridlen Ray, Timothy J. Conlan; subpart5.2 Entitlements; Chapter 23 The Inflexibility of Contemporary Budgets, Bengt-Christer Ysander, Ann Robinson; Chapter 24 Re-Establishing Budgetary Flexibility, Ann Robinson, Bengt-Christer Ysander; Chapter 25 Entitlement Budgeting vs. Bureau Budgeting, Joseph White; subpart5.3 Tax and Expenditure Limitations; Chapter 26 Constraint and Uncertainty, Naomi Caiden, Jeffrey I. Chapman; Chapter 27 Restraint in a Land of Plenty, Glen Hahn Cope, W. Norton Grubb; subpart5.4 Court Decisions and Constitutional Rights; Chapter 28 Budgeting Rights, Jeffrey D. Straussman, Kurt Thurmaier; Part 6 Privatization and Contracting; Chapter 29 Competition and Choice in New York City Social Services, E.S. Savas; Chapter 30 The Need for a Privatization Process, Bruce A. Wallin; Part 7 Budget Norms and Ethics; Chapter 31 Budgetary Balance, Carol W. Lewis; Chapter 32 Federal Budget Concepts—Bright Lines or Black Holes?, Thomas J. Cuny; Chapter 33 Accountability and Entrepreneurial Public Management, Kevin P. Kearns; Chapter 34 The Lottery and Education, Charles J. Spindler; Chapter 35 The Monster that Ate the United States Senate, Bill Dauster;