This study considers the potential for the implementation of performance budgeting within the Maltese public sector, exploring the pressures which support and inhibit this reform, proposing a possible implementation approach and identifying the issues surrounding the implementation of changes to the budgetary system. The study also seeks to identify the recent reforms of the budgetary framework, which have occurred since the change in government in March 2013. Change is inevitable as the government is committed to meet specific targets for fiscal deficit and debt reduction, in line with its EU obligations. The research follows a qualitative approach, using data gathered from documentary sources, corroborated with empirical evidence collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Access has been obtained to discuss relevant issues with senior politicians from the government and the opposition, including former ministers and Prime Ministers. The findings indicate that there are a number of macro-level and institutional pressures acting as triggers for the implementation of budgetary reform; at the same time, there are elements constituting resistance to change which have to be tackled should government intend to change the budgetary framework. A combined approach, with more emphasis on the bottom-up perspective, is recommended for the implementation of performance budgeting.

ORBIT wurde im Oktober 2009 von der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Thüringen e.V., dem Weiterdenken - Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Sachsen e.V., der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Sachsen-Anhalt e.V. und dem DAKT e.V. (Die Andere Kommunalpolitik Thüringen e.V.). beauftragt eine Studie zum Thema „Bürgerhaushalte in Ostdeutschland“ durchzuführen. Ziel der Studie war zum einen die Erfassung des Einführungsstandes in Kommunen aus Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt und Thüringen sowie eine systematische Analyse bestehender Probleme bezüglich der Einführung. Darüber hinaus sollten Handlungsempfehlungen zur Einführung, Weiterentwicklung und bedarfsgerechten Unterstützung des Bürgerhaushaltsprozesses auf Kommunal-, Landes- und Bundesebene abgeleitet werden. Intention der Studie war es außerdem, einen Anstoß zur Einführung von Bürgerhaushalten in weiteren Kommunen zu geben und den Ausbau und die Weiterentwicklung von bereits bestehenden Bürgerhaushalten zu unterstützen. Die Studie wurde von November 2009 bis April 2010 durchgeführt.

ORBIT wurde im Oktober 2009 von der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Thüringen e.V., dem Weiterdenken - Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Sachsen e.V., der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Sachsen-Anhalt e.V. und dem DAKT e.V. (Die Andere Kommunalpolitik Thüringen e.V.). beauftragt eine Studie zum Thema „Bürgerhaushalte in Ostdeutschland“ durchzuführen. Ziel der Studie war zum einen die Erfassung des Einführungsstandes in Kommunen aus Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt und Thüringen sowie eine systematische Analyse bestehender Probleme bezüglich der Einführung. Darüber hinaus sollten Handlungsempfehlungen zur Einführung, Weiterentwicklung und bedarfsgerechten Unterstützung des Bürgerhaushaltsprozesses auf Kommunal-, Landes- und Bundesebene abgeleitet werden. Intention der Studie war es außerdem, einen Anstoß zur Einführung von Bürgerhaushalten in weiteren Kommunen zu geben und den Ausbau und die Weiterentwicklung von bereits bestehenden Bürgerhaushalten zu unterstützen. Die Studie wurde von November 2009 bis April 2010 durchgeführt.

This thesis investigates the implementation of performance-based budgeting through a case-study of Indonesia. It examines the use by government officials/practitioners of performance information in the planning and budget-making process at the national level within Indonesia. In particular, the thesis assesses the impact that performance results have on budget allocations vis-a-vis other factors affecting budget allocation decisions. It also identifies the key challenges for government officials in seeking to implement a performance-based budgeting regime, especially, the challenge of moving the actual practice of budgetmaking model further away from a traditional incremental approach. The research for the thesis has involved a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis, with three different data collection methods deployed. Interviews were conducted with fifty three government officials from the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Finance, seven other ministries/agencies and Parliament. A questionnaire was also designed and administered with seventy nine line ministry/agency officials. Finally, statistical analysis of performance scores and budget data was undertaken for 435 spending programmes covering 86 line ministries/agencies over the period 2011- 2014. A key conclusion from the study is that Indonesia has made significant efforts in the direction of using performance information in its budgetary planning processes. The Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Finance, and line ministries/agencies have been particularly active in leading change in this respect. That said, the evidence gathered from the interviews, questionnaire responses and statistical analysis clearly show that, as elsewhere around the world, the impact of performance information on resource allocation decisions has, so far, been quite limited, and that incrementalism continues to dominate budgetary decision-making. While performance information is becoming increasingly important for managerial purposes within line ministries/agencies, the more challenging goal of breaking well-established budget-setting practices and instituting a more performance-driven allocation model is largely still to be achieved.

Extractive industries (including oil, gas and mining) generally afford an opportunity for the host government to generate the revenue to fund sustainable growth and development. It is therefore not surprising for conventional economic theory to suggest this is a readily available revenue source for resource blessed countries. However, contrary to this reasonable expectation, several of these economies were found to be suffering a financial handicap. Nigeria, despite being the largest crude oil producer in Africa and the tenth largest in the world, has so far found realising the full financial benefits of this nature’s gift unattainable. Using both qualitative and quantitative data as well as grounded theory in the analysis of the qualitative data, this research work has been carried out to develop a model of Nigerian oil industry using System Dynamics modelling methodology in order to understand these challenges. Specifically, the research develops an System Dynamics model to capture and quantify the various potential revenue streams to the Nigerian government from the oil (petroleum) industry with the objective of providing an explanatory model of the causal factors and then using the model to construct policy experiments in order to evaluate policies that may optimise these revenues. Findings show that, the development of the model for the Nigerian oil industry was successfully undertaken. The model was used to evaluate two government policy interventions that were aimed at improving government revenue from the industry. Moreover, a range of alternative scenarios which suggested increase of transparency policy, reduction of rate of gas flare and reduction of time taken for repairs of vandalised facilities were used in the model. The relevant system actors in the Nigerian oil industry were impressed with the modelling idea, particularly in its ability to represents all the economic challenges facing the industry, which offered a better understanding of the system they are dealing with. Overall, the model was able to depict some potential policy points thus serving as a decision-making tool.

Une réforme efficace et efficiente du secteur public constitue un enjeu important pour les gouvernements et les partenaires au développement partout dans le monde. La décentralisation budgétaire ̶ le transfert de compétences en matière de recettes et de dépenses du gouvernement central vers les gouvernements locaux ̶ est souvent considérée comme un moyen d’améliorer l’efficacité de la mobilisation des ressources domestiques et de renforcer l’accès et la qualité des services publics. Dans la poursuite de ces objectifs, la décentralisation budgétaire est devenue un élément essentiel de la politique de réforme du secteur public dans de nombreux pays surtout ceux en développement. Face à l’importance des enjeux liés à cette réforme notamment sur les finances publiques, une importante littérature économique s’est attachée à étudier ses conséquences et les conditions de sa réussite. Cette thèse contribue à cet effort à travers quatre chapitres portant sur les effets de la décentralisation budgétaire dans les pays en développement et plus précisément en Côte d’Ivoire.Le premier chapitre analyse les conséquences de la mobilisation fiscale au niveau municipal sur l’accès aux services publics et sur la réduction de la pauvreté. Les résultats suggèrent que l’augmentation des revenus des municipalités accroît l’accès aux services publics, notamment l’éducation, et, dans une moindre mesure, réduit la pauvreté. Cet effet est accentué dans les régions à faible diversité ethnolinguistique et en milieu urbain. Le second chapitre évalue les effets de l’autonomie fiscale des municipalités sur la distribution de revenus de la population. Empiriquement, les résultats suggèrent qu’une augmentation des revenus prélevés par le gouvernement central (et rétrocédés aux municipalités) réduit les inégalités de revenus, alors qu’une augmentation des revenus directement prélevés par les municipalités augmente les inégalités (taxes locales). Le chapitre trois (3) analyse dans quelle mesure les transferts du gouvernement central aux municipalités affectent la mobilisation des revenus de ces dernières. Les résultats montrent qu’une augmentation des transferts augmente les revenus des municipalités provenant des impôts rétrocédés, et, dans une moindre mesure, les taxes locales. Le quatrième chapitre porte sur les déterminants de la conformité des taxes foncières. Nos résultats concluent que la conformité des taxes foncières est déterminée, entre autres, par les niveaux de services publics du gouvernement central et des municipalités, de la confiance des citoyens envers les municipalités et de la compréhension des citoyens du système de taxation. Les résultats de cette thèse induisent d’importantes implications en termes de politiques de renforcement du secteur public. / An effective and efficient public-sector reform enhances government capability to raise domestic revenue for prioritized spending. It also contributes to strengthening the government capacity to manage public resources more effectively and deliver public services. In pursuing these objectives, fiscal decentralization, the devolution of taxing and spending powers to lower levels of government, has become a key public-sector reform in many countries. Given such high stakes, a growing economic literature is focusing on how to better understand the challenges developing countries face in implementing fiscal decentralization reforms. The present thesis adds to this effort through four contributions shedding light on specific issues related to fiscal decentralization.Chapter 1 analyses whether and how municipal revenue mobilization could enhance citizens’ access to public services and reduce poverty. The results indicate that increasing municipal-raised revenues improve access to public services and reduce poverty. This effect works mainly through enhancing access to education than on access to health, especially in less ethnically diverse localities and in urban zones. Chapter 2 investigates the effect of municipal revenue autonomy on inequalities within sub-national governments. We conclude that higher local revenue autonomy reduces income inequalities within localities, which effect differs between the type of revenue and jurisdiction considered. Chapter 3 analyzes the impact of the transfers from central government to municipalities on the revenue mobilization by municipalities. Our results show that increasing central transfers to subnational government boost revenue mobilization by municipalities for both tax revenue and non-tax revenue. The effect of transfers is found to be higher for tax revenue than for non-tax revenue. Finally, we examine whether the effect of government responsiveness on property tax compliance differs between central government and municipalities in chapter 4. The results conclude that responsiveness by municipalities is found to have a greater effect on property tax compliance than those by central governments. The results of our analysis bear important policy implications to strengthen public sector, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.