Participatory Budgeting


Instructions

In our course text, the author describes a number of budget frameworks, including current services budgeting, fixed-ceiling budgeting, open-ended budgeting, hybrid techniques, performance budgeting, planning-programing budgeting, and zero-base budgeting.

One type of budget he does not mention is participatory budgeting, perhaps because it is used mostly at the local level. Please investigate the Participatory Budget Project website and conduct research on your own to learn more about PB.

For full credit, please answer all of the following questions and cite your sources:

  1. Do you think participatory budgeting would be useful in the city where you live, have lived at one time, or hope to live someday?
  2. Are there particular types of expenditures you think PB would be more suitable for than others?
  3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the PB approach?
  4. Of the budgeting systems described in Chapter 7 (Fixed-ceiling budgeting, performance budgeting, etc.), which do you think would be most compatible with participatory budgeting? Explain why.