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In the light of tightening budget constraints caused by the recent financial and economic crisis and population ageing, it has become increasingly important to explore which portfolio of public expenditure generates economic growth. This article, therefore, estimates the growth effects of the composition of public expenditure for the Swiss case. One main finding is that public expenditures on transport infrastructure, education and administration foster growth. As nonhigh-quality data, which can bias least square estimators, are pervasive in economics, statistically robust estimation methods are applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the authors examine the question of citizen involvement in the process of establishing county budgets in the U.S. state of Georgia. By extension the paper discusses the degree to which individuals participate in larger areas of state government and the impact on government of that participation. Information contained in the report is derived from a survey of county finance directors, officials most qualified to gauge the impact of the citizenry on the budget process, according to the authors.

The article presents information about effectiveness of county budgeting in Texas. The Uniform Budget Law applying to Texas counties was passed in 1931 and became effective on August 21 of the same year. The law requires that budgets be prepared approximately six months in advance of the calendar year to which they apply. Although the law has been subjected to considerable criticism, officials are generally agreed that it permits effective budgeting if and when a conscientious effort is made to secure good administration. In order to avoid placing too much reliance on the results of one year, schedules have been obtained on 26 of the 60 counties for the year 1939. In the case of these 26 counties the results of a five-year period are therefore revealed. In making this analysis it is desirable to use the fund accounts instead of the county-wide accounts for the use of county totals might conceal the amount available to finance expenditures during the year. In some instances funds which lived within resources already had a deficit which had been created in prior years.

Budgeting, a set of steps taken by state competent bodies in order to materialize the financial policy applied by governmental authority, takes place in the following stages: setting out the budget statement, approving the budget, budget execution, budget execution completion, controlling and approving budget execution completion. Budget execution is described in specialized literature especially as a stage in the budgeting process in the components of the national public budget (public budget, social insurance budget, budgets of territorial administrative units). The present paper aims at highlighting several features of how budget execution takes place in the budgets of public institutions which are entirely funded by the public budget and local budgets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the limited financial budget for higher education, science, and research in Great Britain for the year 2012 to 2013 because of the experienced global recession. It compares the case of Great Britain to France in which the former is applying budget cuts in its universities to decrease its national debt while the latter is increasing its national debt in order to improve the fund of its universities. It mentions the budget allocation of U.S. Congress to the National Science Foundation which increased 6.7% of its previous budget for the year 2010. The author reminded the scientists that their funding comes from the tax paid by an increasing country's populace and they should consider whether they can provide a significant contribution to solve the world's problems.