Policy and Politics in State Budgeting

This path-breaking study examines state budget offices as institutional actors, with special attention to the role of budget examiners. Drawing on 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 authors illustrate the new model with the story of two budget office examiners who have distinctly different styles as they begin their work, and contrast the different decision rationalities that come into play for them at different points in a typical budget cycle.

Kurt M. Thurmaier is an associate professor in the public administration department at the University of Kansas Katherine G. Willoughby is an associate professor in the department of public administration and urban studies in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University