Towards more flexibility of government expenditure: Some recent developments in The Netherlands

As government revenues diminish, budgetary discretions or flexibilities have similarly decreased. A pressing question is therefore how to minimize the inflexible elements or components of a budget. This article distinguishes between technical and political inflexibilities as they are reflected in the budgetary process and argues that the latter are much more difficult to correct. After drawing some examples from studies of the Dutch national budget, the article proposes the use of reconsideration reports as a means to alleviate the politically inflexible components of the budget, as well as a way to assess government programs.I am grateful to Dr. L. J. C. M. Le Blanc, former Director General of the Budget in the Dutch Ministry of Finance for his valuable critical remarks and suggestions to earlier drafts of this article.