The origin of budgeting

John M. Kim

OECD Journal on Budgeting, 2024, vol. 24, issue 1

Abstract: When and how did budgeting as we know it come to be? This inquiry yields some surprising answers. The budget system evolved as an integral part of the development of the modern democratic state, and hence replicates within itself the core principle of separation of powers. This process first took place in England over some five centuries. Once established, however, the budget system spread quite rapidly: most Western countries adopted it in the nineteenth century; the rest of the world, in the latter half of the twentieth. The propagation was so successful that virtually all countries currently subscribe to one same model of budgeting. Underneath the minor cosmetic differences, the basic framework of allocating budgetary authorities between the government and the legislature, and the principles that govern the interactions between them, are identical among virtually all countries, including even those that subscribe to different notions of government than Western democracy.

Keywords: Budget system; separation of powers; budgeting framework and principles; history and worldwide propagation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H10 H11 H61 K10 N10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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