Budgetary Institutions

The Effects of Crises and European Fiscal Governance Reforms on the Budgetary Processes of Member States

“…Budget processes comprise formal and informal rules that guide the decision‐making process in formulating, approving and implementing the budget (Hallerberg et al, ; Raudla, , ). In analyses of different kinds of budgetary institutions, a centralized budget process is often contrasted with a fragmented or decentralized budget process, also called the fiefdom model (Hallerberg et al, ; von Hagen, , ).…”

“…In the case of the contracts approach, at the beginning of the annual budget cycle the members of government (or coalition parties) negotiate multilaterally and commit themselves (either legally or politically) to a key set of budgetary parameters or fiscal targets (usually spending targets for each ministry) that are considered binding for the rest of the budget cycle. During the remaining part of the budget preparation process the minister of finance is responsible for evaluating the consistency of the budget proposals submitted by the spending ministers with the agreed targets (Hallerberg, ; Hallerberg et al, ; Raudla, , ; von Hagen, , ).…”

“…At the legislative stage the fiscal contracts approach entails the legislature voting on the total budget size before the approval of single provisions. It puts less emphasis on constraining legislative budgetary amendments and more on the legislature's role in monitoring the compliance of the executive's budget with the fiscal targets (Hallerberg et al, ; Raudla, , ).…”

Budget Reforms in Times of Austerity: A Centralization Cascade in Danish Central Government?

“…Fiscal rules constrain key budget aggregates that can apply to the deficit or the debt, to total revenues, or to other aggregates (Schick , p. 2). Fiscal rules can influence fiscal policy by enhancing the accountability of policymakers and by mitigating the common‐pool problems inherent in budget decision‐making (Raudla , p. 2). As fiscal rules establish clear targets with which actual policies can be compared, they may enhance the accountability of the legislature and the executive.…”

“…In previous fiscal crises, austerity has given rise to centralization of decision‐making in the public sector (Behn ; Di Mascio, Natalini, and Stolfi ; Molander ; Peters, Pierre, and Randma‐Liiv ; Raudla , ). Raudla et al () have further shown the interlinkages between shifts toward more centralized decision‐making.…”