In: Economics
Explain the various perspectives one can have on public budgeting and how each perspective can affect the definition of public budgeting. What should this mean to you as a person putting together a government budget?
Public budgeting is a discipline in the academic study that deals with the field of public administration. Traditionally public budgeting has focused on routine spending of the government on traditional sectors of the economy, such as infrastructure, health and education for the people.
However, in the last couple of decades various perspectives on public budgeting have evolved.
Based on the perception and the actual needs of the society public budgeting can be aimed at priortization of spending on certain sector of the economy such as infrastructure where emphasis is put on spending on infrastructure creation, likewise on healthcare, gender budgeting, etc.
To someone who is putting together a government budget these perspectives are vital to ensure achievement of the goals of public budgeting with the help of prudent financial planning. There may be need of allocating resources more efficiently than before, cutting down expenditure on some sector while increasing on the other thereby leading to achievement of policy goals.