SOME VIEWS ON PROGRAM BUDGETING,
Abstract
Legislation and the ensuing program activities may usefully be characterized as a series of hypotheses about how to meet various public needs. Usually it is not possible to make tests of these hypotheses in their actual setting before they are implemented. Hence, a proposed program must often be adopted and given financial support with only an imperfect notion of what it is likely to accomplish or to cost. Expert opinion and professional judgement may reduce this uncertainty, but they too are often only hypotheses when complex social and economic welfare problems are involved. To compound the difficulty, many programs are not subjected to critical evaluation even after some period of operation. The validity of the original hypotheses and the reasons for success or failure are left unchecked. Little feedback is obtained which can be used in the next round of the sequential decision process. Program budgeting can be used in several ways to assist this process and to improve the conditions under which the decisions are made.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 21, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0662864
Entities
People
- Brent D. Bradley
Organizations
- RAND Corporation