Sustainable development goals and indicators: can they be tools to make national budgets more sustainable?

Elisabeth Hege (), Laura Brimont () and Felicien Pagnon ()
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Elisabeth Hege: Institut du developpement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI), Paris, France
Laura Brimont: Institut du developpement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI), Paris, France
Felicien Pagnon: IRISSO, UMR CNRS 7170, Universite Paris-Dauphine, PSL (Paris Sciences et Lettres); Institut du developpement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI), Paris, France

Public Sector Economics, 2019, vol. 43, issue 4, 423-444

Abstract: This article explores the use and added value of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and indicators in the budgeting process. Several countries have announced in their voluntary national reviews (VNRs) their intention to use the SDGs in their budgetary processes, but few have specified why it would be relevant to do so, or how it could be implemented. Based on nine case studies conducted through interviews, we found that SDG budgeting is still in its infancy. We nevertheless identified four ways in which countries are starting to integrate the SDGs into budgeting processes. Most of the countries we studied either map their budgets against the SDGs or include qualitative reporting in their main budget document. Less often, countries use the SDGs to improve their budget performance evaluation system or as a management tool for resource allocation. Most of the countries follow a technical approach. Only rarely are the SDGs used politically or referenced in the budgetary debate.

Keywords: budget; sustainable development; new wealth indicators (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H61 H83 Q01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ipf:psejou:v:43:y:2019:i:4:p:423-444

DOI: 10.3326/pse.43.4.5

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