On the Decline and Possible Fall of PPBS

Abstract

The apparent failure of the Planning-Programming-Budgeting System (PPBS) to fulfill hopes for it in the federal government is examined in this article from the perspective of arguments surrounding its inception. It is argued that PPBS proponents had a naive conception of the political process, and that PPBS as an overall system has failed for precisely the reasons predicted by early critics. The productive aspects of the system do not require the overall framework to be useful, and, to the extent that improved budgeting is possible, it can be achieved in other ways more consistent with the actual structure of political decision-making in a world characterized by great complexity and disagreement about values.

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