TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bradford,David F.
TI  - Reforming Budgetary Language
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8500
PY  - 2001
Y2  - October 2001
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8500
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8500.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
David F. Bradford
Woodrow Wilson School
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544-1013
Tel: 609/258-1856
Fax: 609/258-2809
E-Mail: BRADFORD@PRINCETON.EDU
AB  - In the context of several examples of problems associated with present budgetary conventions, I revisit Musgrave's conceptual division of the government's program into Allocation, Distribution and Stabilization Branch subbudgets.  I suggest progress towards Musgrave's ideal of a more informative budgetary 'language,' one less dependent on arbitrary institutional labeling, must be based on the nonarbitrary description of the individual's economic environment, as it is affected by government.  As a first approximation, that environment can be summed up in terms of the individual's budget constraint and levels of public goods provided.  Simple models suggest that an unambiguous budgetary language may be feasible but there remains much to clarify about both the objectives of the exercise and the specifics of methods to deal with particular problems.
ER  -