The Politics of Budget Execution

Abstract

Until recently, political scientists focused on the approval of budget requests and ignored budget execution. This study counters the budgeting literature's almost single-minded concentration on legislative action. Existing studies which touch on budget execution in state and local governments are reviewed and five major techniques of budgetary adjustment are identified: (1) conservative special fund revenue estimates, (2) accounting legerdemain, (3) transfers, (4) reprogramming, and (5) juggling of special funds. The study concludes that additional research on budget execution is necessary before developing more effective theories about the "steering" of governmental institutions.