IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/pubfin/v1y1973i2p85-106.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Decline and Possible Fall of PPBS

Author

Listed:
  • Robert L Harlow

    (Department of Economics College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Mass.))

Abstract

The apparent failure of the Planning-Programming-Budgeting System (PPBS) to fulfill hopes for it in the federal government is examined in this article from the perspective of arguments surrounding its inception. It is argued that PPBS proponents had a naive conception of the political process, and that PPBS as an overall system has failed for precisely the reasons predicted by early critics. The productive aspects of the system do not require the overall framework to be useful, and, to the extent that improved budgeting is possible, it can be achieved in other ways more consistent with the actual structure of political decision-making in a world characterized by great complexity and disagreement about values.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert L Harlow, 1973. "On the Decline and Possible Fall of PPBS," Public Finance Review, , vol. 1(2), pages 85-106, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:1:y:1973:i:2:p:85-106
    DOI: 10.1177/109114217300100207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/109114217300100207
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/109114217300100207?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Davis, Otto A. & Dempster, M. A. H. & Wildavsky, Aaron, 1966. "A Theory of the Budgetary Process," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 529-547, September.
    2. Charles E. Lindblom, 1961. "Decision-Making in Taxation and Expenditures," NBER Chapters, in: Public Finances: Needs, Sources, and Utilization, pages 295-336, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Arthur Maass, 1966. "Benefit-Cost Analysis: Its Relevance to Public Investment Decisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(2), pages 208-226.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert L. Harlow, 1973. "On the Decline and Possible Fall of Ppbs," Public Finance Review, , vol. 1(1), pages 85-105, January.
    2. John Jackson, 2014. "Location, location, location: the Davis-Hinich model of electoral competition," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 197-218, April.
    3. Valentino Larcinese & Leonzio Rizzo & Cecilia Testa, 2007. "Do Small States Get More Federal Monies? Myth and Reality about the US Senate Malapportionment," Royal Holloway, University of London: Discussion Papers in Economics 07/01, Department of Economics, Royal Holloway University of London, revised May 2007.
    4. Robert H. Haveman, 1977. "On Evaluating the Regional Impact of Public Policy," NBER Chapters, in: Explorations in Economic Research, Volume 4, number 3 (New Directions in Federal Economic Development Programs), pages 429-444, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Hannelore Weck-Hannemann, 1987. "Politisch-ökonomische Bestimmungsgründe der Vergabe von Entwicklungshilfe: Eine empirische Untersuchung für die Schweiz," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 123(IV), pages 501-529, December.
    6. Schneider, Andreas, 2019. "Deterrence Theory in Paraguay: Exploring Fraud and Violation of Trust Cases," MPRA Paper 102204, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Stephen J. Majeski & David L. Jones, 1981. "Arms Race Modeling," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 25(2), pages 259-288, June.
    8. Arwan Gunawan & Winwin Yadiati & Harry Suharman & K. Poppy Sofia, 2020. "Linkages to Budgetary Control and Budgetary Absorption Performance," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(5), pages 304-316.
    9. Manuele Citi, 2015. "European Union budget politics: Explaining stability and change in spending allocations," European Union Politics, , vol. 16(2), pages 260-280, June.
    10. van Velthoven, Ben & van Winden, Frans, 1985. "Towards a politico-economic theory of social security," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 263-289, March.
    11. Valentino Larcinese & Leonzio Rizzo & Cecilia Testa, 2013. "Why Do Small States Receive More Federal Money? U.S. Senate Representation and the Allocation of Federal Budget," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 257-282, November.
    12. Frey, Bruno S., 1978. "Politico-economic models and cycles," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 203-220, April.
    13. A. Abigail Payne, 2003. "The Effects of Congressional Appropriation Committee Membership on the Distribution of Federal Research Funding to Universities," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(2), pages 325-345, April.
    14. Zhao, Jihong & Ren, Ling & Lovrich, Nicholas P., 2010. "Budgetary support for police services in U.S. municipalities: Comparing political culture, socioeconomic characteristics and incrementalism as rival explanations for budget share allocation to police," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 266-275, May.
    15. Ignacio Lago-Peñas & Santiago Lago-Peñas, 2009. "Does the nationalization of party systems affect the composition of public spending?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 85-98, January.
    16. Schuelke-Leech, Beth-Anne, 2014. "Volatility in federal funding of energy R&D," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 943-950.
    17. T Sager, 1981. "The Family of Goals-Achievement Matrix Methods: Respectable Enough for Citizen Participation in Planning?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 13(9), pages 1151-1161, September.
    18. Wehner, Joachim, 2010. "Cabinet structure and fiscal policy outcomes," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28648, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. G G Roy, 1974. "A Multiple Criteria Approach to Regional Planning Problems," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 6(3), pages 313-320, June.
    20. Kendall Moll, 1974. "International Conflict as a Decision System," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 18(4), pages 555-577, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:1:y:1973:i:2:p:85-106. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.