James W. Douglas

Fiscal Crisis and Expenditure Cuts: The Influence of Public Management Practices on Cutback Strategies in Europe

The Great Recession resulted in fiscal crises for governments across the Western world. Significant cuts in government programs and in public administration itself were initiated as many governments scrambled to reduce their growing budget deficits. We are interested in how European governments have reacted during the most recent crisis. In particular, our article explores whether rationally oriented management approaches are associated with targeted and efficiency cuts rather than across-the-board cuts. The theoretical part of the article outlines the predictions about how the use of rational approaches will affect the types of cuts used by public agencies. In the empirical part of the article, we use the survey of 7,077 senior government officials in 19 European countries, undertaken within the framework of the Coordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Future (COCOPS) project. We find that several rationally oriented approaches—use of strategic planning, focusing on outcomes and results, rewarding goal achievement, and increased relevance and use of performance measures—are positively associated with the use of targeted and efficiency cuts. These findings suggest that rational management techniques adopted by governments over recent decades might be used by managers to help them make strategic decisions, even during times of crisis.

Is Cost Accounting Used with Other NPM Practices? Evidence from European Countries

Abstract Cost accounting has not been studied extensively in the context of European central governments. This article looks at the use of cost accounting with two New Public Management practices: performance management and decentralization. The research finds that there is an increasing use of cost accounting for central government ministries that make greater use of performance management, which follows the theoretical prediction that cost accounting information and performance information can be used together to address agency problems. Greater decentralization is associated with a greater use of cost accounting, but the relationship between decentralization and cost accounting does not vary by agency or ministry.

Reforming the Fiscal Constitution: Holding Politicians Accountable Through Greater Transparency

In this chapter, we argue that in order to restore relevance to the executive phase of the budget process, it needs to provide better information to citizens regarding the options available for closing the gap between revenues and expenditures. We outline a proposal whereby the executive would have to make clear his/her priorities by designating spending as either revenue or deficit financed, and submitting a 5-year balanced budget plan within his/her budget recommendation. The legislative body (or bodies) would then be required to enunciate how their preferences differ from those of the executive in their respective budget resolutions. We contend that such a process would be more transparent, better enabling citizens to hold politicians accountable.

The Impact of Greater Centralization on the Relevance of Performance Information in European Governments During the Fiscal Crisis

The Great Recession resulted in fiscal crises for governments across the Western world. Our article explores whether, as a result of the crisis, the relevance of performance information in organizational decision-making increased. Furthermore, we examine how centralizing shifts in governmental decision-making processes influenced the shifts in the relevance of performance information for public sector organizations. Using a survey of senior government officials in 19 European countries, we find that, in line with the predictions of rationalistic decision-making and principal–agent models, the increase in the relevance of performance information in organizational decision-making was positively associated with our measures of greater centralization.