Performance Measurement in State Budgeting: Advancement and Backsliding from 1990 to 1995

Performance measurement has been one of the dominant themes of budget reform in the 1990s and has been prevalent in the mainstream of budgeting since the 1950s. Given the attention that performance measurement has had nationally, states might be expected to have made major strides in this arena in recent years. The article considers the current status of performance measurement practices, and identifies both advancement and backsliding made by states between 1990 and 1995. The discussion is based on data obtained from surveys of state budget offices in those two years. Indexes of performance measurement were constructed, and these became the bases of regression analyses using independent variables pertaining to state characteristics. Generally, these analyses were unsuccessful in explaining the variations among the states. The findings underscore the diversity among the states in their budgetary practices and the fact that budget reform, in the sense of increased use of performance measurement, is not necessarily achieved in a straight line of progression. The article considers possible explanations for the changes.     

Ethics and State Budgeting

Concern is increasing for ethics in government. Budget managers have a limited set of ethical concerns which are being met through a combination of formal codes at the state level and informal understandings at the budget office level. But a framework for ethics in budgeting would require a consensus on important ethical values and a reflection of these values in budget actions and decisions. This evolution might take place through a national code to be adapted by individual states.     

Performance Measurement and Budget Balancing: State Government Perspective

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.     

Modern Management Tools in State Agencies: The Case of Norway

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the broad package of modern management tools that are used by Norwegian state agencies. These tools are regarded as forms of regulation inside government as well as a “shopping basket.” We describe the range of different tools and look at how intensively they are used and how they are interrelated. We also examine variations in use of these tools by different agencies. The empirical basis is a survey addressed to all organizations in the Norwegian civil service, apart from the ministries, in 2004. Our theoretical approach is primarily based on neo-institutional organization theory. Our main empirical findings are that the use of modern management tools is widespread; that some are very common while others are more marginal; that there are different families of tools that supplement each other; that there is significant variation in the use of different tools; and that size is the most important independent variable in explaining the use of different tools. Neo-institutional considerations, particularly normative isomorphism as a source of legitimacy, do not appear to be a major explanation for tool adoption.     

Implementing Performance-Based Program Budgeting: A System-Dynamics Perspective

The article proposes a model for evaluating budget reforms that combines insights from budgeting, policy implementation, and system-dynamics literatures. System-dynamics modeling combines both quantitative and qualitative research techniques to provide a new framework for applied research; its use is illustrated using performance budgeting as an example. Applied to the implementation of Florida's performance-based program budget, the model identifies actions in the short run that will increase the reform's likelihood of success: providing clear communications; facilitative budget and accounting routines; reliable performance information. The model also identifies critical legislative behaviors that influence executive implementation: how the legislature in the long-run uses performance information to inform resource allocation and how it applies incentives or sanctions to programs that achieve or fail to achieve their performance standards. The legislature has the opportunity to use program reviews prepared by legislative staff to invigorate the executive branch's resolve to continue implementing the reform.     

From Performance Budgeting to Performance Budget Management: Theory and Practice

This article examines the decades‐long practices of performance budgeting in different countries and their associated challenges from a multilayered institutional framework. Based on theory and lessons learned, the article recommends an array of strategies to address institutional and organizational barriers. It also proposes to reconceptualize performance budgeting as a performance budget management system and suggests how multiyear budget planning, financial risk assessment, policy planning, the departmental budget cycle, the program budget cycle, stakeholder engagement, regular spending reviews, and performance audits should be integrated more closely to address the long‐term fiscal challenges faced by many governments and to respond to the public pressure on agencies to do more with less.     

Budgeting by the Ballot: Initiatives in the State of Montana

Citizen participation in the decision-making process and government's responsiveness to people's needs constitute the core of the democratic ethic. Three institutional arrangements are devised to make democracy more democratic: initiatives, referenda, and recall. This article deals specifically with the initiative process in the State of Montana. While citizen participation could be an end in itself, it is viewed here as a means to achieve specific ends. Three different initiatives are studied using four criteria to determine the efficacy of the process.     

Performance Measurement in Budgeting: A Study of County Governments

This article focuses on the use of performance measurement in public budgeting. Based on a national survey of county governments, it finds that governments use performance measurement in a wide range of budgeting areas. The results also show that performance measurement users are experiencing technical obstacles in conducting performance analysis and obtaining support from legislatures and citizens. The article concludes that analytical competency and political support increase the use of performance measurement in budgeting, which leads to a more efficient, effective, and accountablegovernment.     

Individual Engagement to Collective Participation: The Dynamics of Participation Pattern in Performance Budgeting

Active participation from all stakeholders in the budget process is one of the key issues to the integration of performance information with budgeting. While individual stakeholders' participation is cited as important by various studies, participation pattern, that is, how they engage relative to each other in performance measurement, is less known. Empirical studies on participation patterns and their collective impact on performance budgeting are scarce. Using the survey data collected in Georgia, this study conducted a cluster analysis in order to further provide a dynamic understanding of the mechanism and structure of a participative process in performance budgeting. The findings suggest that participation pattern is a different construct than individual participation and that the effective patterns vary by the purpose for which performance information is used. In addition, the patterns that are open to external professionals and citizens, with shared responsibilities among the agencies, executive offices and the legislative branch, and tailored to various purposes are more likely to be effective in integrating performance information with management and budgeting.     

State Medicaid Budgeting in Hard Times: Implications for Long-Term Care

This qualitative analysis compares the annual Medicaid budgeting processes in Utah and Illinois from the late 1970s until 1985, explaining why Utah cut the proportion spent on nursing homes and Illinois did not. It posits rational, organizational, and political process interpretations of each state's choices. The states implemented Medicaid rationing (through preadmission screening, rate freezes and adjustments, and expansion of alternatives) in significantly different ways. Utah reduced utilization of nursing homes while Illinois contained rates. Such diverse policy choices have aggravated disparities among the states in access to and quality of long-term care. Rational planning for our aging society will have to overcome these growing disparities among state policies.     

Devolution and Innovation: The Adoption of State Environmental Policy Innovations by Administrative Agencies

Do states act as laboratories for reform? Are state administrative agencies likely to adopt policy innovations? This study analyzes the adoption of environmental policy innovations by state administrative agencies in the area of hazardous waste regulation. Four explanations are developed to explain the factors that affect innovation adoption: the severity of the problem, the importance of institutional factors, the role played by interest groups, and contextual factors. Institutional factors, such as state wealth and administrative professionalism, are important determinants of innovation adoption. State agencies are also likely to adopt innovations to deal with problems created by hazardous waste contamination. In addition, state environmental managers are not directly influenced by interest groups, and the inclusion of all stakeholders is likely to lead to greater support for new policy initiatives. Implications for practitioners are drawn based on the study's findings.