Written by Matt Andrews
I have been part of a creative team teaching an executive course on public finance for over a decade. This team has spent lots of time discussing the changes we have all experienced in the world in recent decades, and what the main objectives of public finance might be now—in what is an ever-changing world.
Out of this discussion, I propose what I call the Pillars of Public Finance Performance in Our Changing World—the objectives we should be paying attention to when determining how well our public finance systems are working:
- How does the system impact equity?
- How does it foster fiscal sustainability?
- What about the way our public finances impact environmental sustainability?
- Do we have a high level of effectiveness in the system?
- Do we foster inclusion in the processes and products of our public finance system?
- How is our public finance system impacting innovation and growth?
- You add yours…
- Does our system promote accountability, of politicians to citizens, and bureaucrats to politicians and citizens, and current citizens to each other and future generations?
The intent of this figure is to illustrate how public finance is about balancing tough issues… that our revenue and expenditure habits have an impact whether we like it or not. And that are key to maintaining the social and political compacts in our world today and into the future.
- What do you think?
- How is your country doing on the pillars?
- Where are you most vulnerable?
