Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Authors: Alfred Tat-Kei Ho, University of Kansas; Maarten de Jong, the Netherlands Court of Audit

Many countries have pursued performance budgeting reform for the past few decades. In the U.S., the idea of using output, outcome, and cost-efficiency data to improve program management, policies, and public accountability could date back to the early 20^th century during the progressive era and multiple reform efforts by the federal government since the 1950s. Since the 1980s, many other OECD countries and even developing countries have also introduced their own performance budgeting reform, with the hope to make budgetary decision-making more rational and effective. Despite decades of experimentation, many researchers and practitioners have remained skeptical about the impact of the reform and do not believe that performance data and analytics can make a significant impact on the growingly politicized policymaking process. At the same time, the reform has been credited to increase fiscal transparency, align government priorities with activities, program planning, and spending, strengthen budgetary dialogue, improve program management, and foster organizational learning.