Balancing Control and Flexibility in Public Budgeting: A New Role for Rule Variability

This book is the product of ideas and explorations garnered from many conversations across the corridor that separates the authors’ offi ces. But there have been many contributions, from near and far, that the authors have great pleasure in acknowledging. The research on which the book is based was supported by a competitive Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) Research Grant (2012–2013). We are both very grateful to the School for this, and its continuing institutional backing. The project itself was superbly supported by the enthusiastic research assistance of Tom O’Connor, who himself is now practicing the art of budgetary control in the Australian Department of Finance. And during the research, offi cers within the Finance Department’s Governance and Resource Management Group provided helpful perspectives on the design and effectiveness of budget frameworks. A number of people generously read various incarnations of the draft work and provided valuable comments, including our ANZSOG colleagues Michael Mintrom and Sophie Yates; John Wanna, and Andrew Podger (Australian National University); Evert Lindquist (University of Victoria); Joanne Kelly (University of Sydney); and Paul Posner (George Mason University). The manuscript also benefi ted signifi cantly from highly constructive suggestions of the anonymous reviewer. Refi nement of the fi nal product was made possible by the keen editorial eyes of Sophie Yates and Nicole Barling-Luke