New goals, more actors: rethinking the political economy of fiscal institutions

de Renzio, Paolo and Wehner, Joachim ORCID: 0000-0002-1951-308X (2025) New goals, more actors: rethinking the political economy of fiscal institutions. In: Allen, Richard and Krause, Philipp, (eds.) Contemporary Issues and Challenges in Public Financial Management: Responding to Global Crises. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, CH, 59 - 92. ISBN 9783031811357

Text (de Renzio and Wehner - Chapter 3 draft 19 Aug 24) - Accepted Version Repository staff only until 3 April 2026. Download (688kB)

Abstract

This chapter argues that traditional measures of fiscal success, like fiscal discipline and economic growth, should be complemented by new goals reflecting broader human purposes and policy objectives, such as advancing key development priorities, addressing inequalities, and tackling climate change. It also suggests that a broader set of actors, including civil society, fiscal councils, and Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) should play more significant roles in holding governments accountable for these long-term policy objectives. Some governments have already initiated reforms to incorporate these broader goals into fiscal policy, including through the adoption of tools like gender budgeting and climate risk assessments, but these efforts are still incipient. The chapter concludes by highlighting the need for rethinking budget processes and institutional designs to address cross-sectoral challenges and incentivize long-term planning, supported by more and better data on the long-term and distributional impacts of public policies.

Item Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Divisions:	Government
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Date Deposited:	16 Jun 2025 10:48
Last Modified:	16 Jun 2025 10:48
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/128409

Actions (login required)

View Item