The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and Balancing

by Rubin I

As Irene Rubin has shown convincingly in past editions, public budgeting is inherently political. Short-term partisan goals overrun long-term public interest and democratic processes, eroding institutional and public capacity to address collective problems. By presenting federal, state, and local budgeting within a comparative framework, Rubin's classic text gives explicit attention to issues of federalism, always sensitive to the power struggles between the different branches and levels of government. How much control is exerted from above and what degree of autonomy can be found at each level of government? What kind of influence do elected officials wield over government priorities? How do we resolve the tension between patronage, pork, and tax breaks necessary for reelection and the requirements of balance, technical efficiency, and prioritization?

Analyzing each strand of the decision-making process, Rubin shows the extraordinary coordination involved in passing a budget and achieving some level of accountability. By moving beyond the simplistic and rigid "executive proposal and legislative disposal" cycle other books follow, Rubin explores shifts in power over time and explains decisions that do not always flow in a linear fashion.

A thorough revision at every turn, updates include:

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Public Policy, Textbooks, Teaching

301 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Kennedy]

long story short, how a city, state, or country spends its money is political y’all

[Ben D.]

Excellent book. Irene Rubin does an great job explaining the differences among federal, state and local budget processes. As well as showing minicases that establish context in both economic and political categories. The text offers well developed strategies for public policy hypothesis, while asserting political language fit for the practitioner or the academic. The author covers a wide range of complexities that often confront the public policy process and analysists as well-giving the reader insight from history, philosophical reasoning, and government lens. One main point of the text is for the reader to develop a mature understanding how politics influences economic decision making at each level of government, in addition, to amplify several hypothesis towards overcoming common barriers to effective communication regarding politics and economy.

[Sawyer Wampler]

The Politics of Public Budgeting has a wealth of information about the powers of budgeting in public administration. However, I do wish that the book were more engaging. I understand that this is a textbook, but that should not limit it from interacting more with the reader through quizzes at the ends of chapters, a fast facts sheet, etc. Regardless, if you are into reading about public administration topics, this book may be for you!

[April Kersey]

As the saying goes,this book provides information as "a mile wide and an inch deep." Nothing bad about that. I used it as a reference and starting point for more research. It may have gotten less stars had I not been comparing it to the great mammoth of a book I had to read about the same subject matter, which was the worst book I've ever had the displeasure of reading. 😆

[Ismail Zariyand]

It is a wonderful book to understand the administrative process of the public budgeting and the practical difficulties and methods around it.

[Jennifer]

Dated.

[Brighton Brooksby]

Didn't finish. Read for my budgeting class.

[Steven Peterson]

Irene Rubin is one of our foremost experts on public budgeting. Here, she explores "tyhe politics of public budgeting." The book considerts such subjects as the political side of public budgets, the politics of revenues (e.g., raising taxes, changing the budget process and what is involved there, expenditures, efforts at balancing the budget, adopting budgets and implementing them, and a return to the politics of budget decision-making.

A fine work. . . .

[Bryan at Postmarked from the Stars]

Governance is tough but it appears coalition building just to get a budget passed is getting even more difficult as we see American politics get more and more polarized. Textbooks are weird... you're required to read them but if you like the subject matter it can work out really well. Rubin presents countless minicases that highlight examples of public budgeting in America and they all emphasized the need for an engaged public.

[Amber]

Good - though I wish these public budgeting books had more images so that some of the more complicated, or hell, even the easier concepts, are easier for people who are visual learners. There is an updated version and I'm thinking about using it if I teach this course again.

[Josh]

Fantastic information about the allocation of financial resources in government, no matter who is leading the country.

[Saputra Zamri]

gmgvh

[Breanna]

For a Public Budgeting book, this book was an easy read. Rubin explained things really well, with only a few complexities that I still had to research into. Not bad.

[Ian]

Dry, but informational. Must read for anyone who wants to participate in our democracies.

[Elizabeth]

Had to have it as a textbook for grad school, not too bad of read and some interesting points made.