Policy and Politics in State Budgeting

States are the key to contemporary government reform efforts in the United States, but we know very little about their relative effectiveness at resource allocation and their actual capacity to absorb additional fiscal and managerial responsibilities. This pathbreaking study examines state budget offices as institutional actors, with special attention to the role of budget examiners. Drawing on empirical findings from field studies of eleven states in the American heartland, the authors demonstrate how budgeting at the state level has become more policy-oriented, requiring more complex decision making by budget analysts. The incrementalist model of budgetary decision making thus gives way to a multiple rationalities model. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography of historical and modern writings on state budgeting operations, activities, and decision making; state budgeting cycles; and the state-level policy-development process