New research show that inviting citizens to participate early in crafting their governments' budgets doesn't just live up to our democratic ideals; it saves lives:
Hai Guo, a professor of public budgeting and finance at Florida International University, set out to study the relationship between citizen participation in budgeting and measurable performance outcomes. His analysis relied on 2005 survey data on state transportation agencies and their civic engagement strategies (focus groups, for example) across four stages in the budget process.
Because Guo’s research focused solely on transportation agencies, he looked at transportation-related outcomes that governments value: fewer road-related fatalities and fewer poor-quality roads. He took into account external factors, such as level of funding, that might account for differences in fatality rates or road conditions. He found that not only is there an inverse relationship (more attempts at civic engagement mean fewer fatalities and low-quality roads), but that the relationship is statistically significant. In other words, the result isn’t due to chance.
More importantly, the association was strongest at the earliest stage in the process. “You need to engage them early. I think that’s the point we’re trying to make,” Guo said. Since the analysis was specific to state transportation departments, Guo says he'd like to see if the same pattern would emerge at other levels of government [J.B. Wogan, "Study: Citizen Budgeting Related to Better Outcomes," Governing, 2013.04.15].
Participatory budgeting was one of my favorite topics while I was studying information systems at DSU. Guo's research reinforces the idea that gathering citizen input in the basic business of spending tax dollars on public goods makes sense morally and practically. Governor Daugaard, it's time to fire up some budget survey widgets for 2014!
Ask the workers. Too many times you get someone making the decisions (Congress) that does not take into account the workflow. For education, the best to ask would be the secretaries, administrative assistants and custodians. For roads, they might want to consult the truck drivers and snowplow operators. For hospitals you would want to talk to the nurses. For the military you want the guys on the front line.
Is participatory budgeting where every citizen of the state gets 8 or 10 dollars worth of votes and we vote to put our dollars in the highway pot, raises-for-good-teachers pot, raises for fatcat administrator pot, welfare pot, economic development pot, illegal immigration pot, expand Obamacare pot and so on?
That would be a good way to spend the budget. And then anybody who doesnt vote, their 8 dollars goes back to the give-it-back-to-the-taxpayer pot.
Who would you ask about "fatalies?" Love these pedagogues that can't spell. Here's a link for you, Cory.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pedagogue
Yes, yes, Ed. I'll send a memo to the personnel department to have that misspeller roughed up. Error corrected!
Grudz, your model is perhaps the ultimate version of participatory budgeting. I'm not sure anyone has taken it that far yet, but you describe a valid exercise to help people practice balancing the budget and to draw out their true priorities.
Michael, participatory budgeting can tap exactly the knowledge base you are looking for. Of course, the challenge is that you've got to get those people to the meetings to participate. A key part of getting people to participate is showing them in the first year of participatory budgeting that this isn't just a dog-and-pony show, that their discussion and advice will make a real difference in the shape of the final budget.
$1 into roads ('tho I don't really use them much)
Just finished reading "Future Perfect: the case for progress in a networked age" by Steven Johnson. More on participatory budgeting here and many other applications of this similar concept of how unorganized, participatory networks can do creative problem solving, fund raising, etc. Exciting stuff.