How do countries make policy in an uncertain world? Do policymakers look inward, rationally designing policies to fit domestic interests, ideas, and institutions? Or do they look outward, imitating policy elements from other countries? And if the latter, where do they look? Focusing on the...

The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) has generated a lively debate among academics, activists, and policy practitioners. Given the scope and ambition of this program, and the prestige of the United Nations associated with it, its supporters believe it will fundamentally reshape how...

This article analyzes the political origins of differences in adherence to the fiscal framework of the European Union (EU). It shows how incentives to use fiscal policy for electoral purposes and limited budget transparency at the national level, combined with the need to respond to fiscal rules...

A central explanation of fiscal performance focuses on the structure of the cabinet. However, the partisan context of cabinet decisions remains under-explored, the findings are based on small samples and the variables of interest are often poorly operationalised. Using a new dataset of spending...

The literature on the common pool resource problem in budgeting has thus far not explored the likely interaction between size fragmentation (the number of decision makers) and procedural fragmentation (the structure of the process in which they interact).The argument put forward in this article...

A number of studies, using different samples and datasets, claim that various legislative institutions affect fiscal policy. This paper uses data from a 2003 survey of budgeting practices to comprehensively evaluate the effect of a range of legislative institutions on public spending in 25 OECD...

Since 2000, three consecutive governments in Croatia have focused their policies on modernising the public administration and reforming the budget process. This article examines the budget process in Croatia in the light of its two unique characteristics: a very detailed account structure, and a...

This review of the Slovenian budget system was carried out as part of the Budget Project of the Working Party of Senior Budget Officials (SBO). The Budget Project aims to initiate and foster regional networks of Senior Budget Officials outside the OECD area. This review served as a basis for the...

Since independence, Estonia has been at the forefront of institutional reform in the area of financial management. Budget formulation is divided into two distinct stages: strategic planning and preparation of the annual budget that is submitted to Parliament. This article describes key...

This review of the Romanian budget system was carried out as part of the Budget Project of the Working Party of Senior Budget Officials (SBO). The Budget Project aims to initiate and foster regional networks of Senior Budget Officials outside the OECD area. This review served as a basis for the...