Abstract
In his seminal work on “The Road to PPB: The Stages of Budget Reform,” Allen Schick (1966) provided an interpretive assessment of the progression of theories in public budgeting. He identified the changing needs of policy makers as the key driver in the progression of theories and the ensuing innovations. This chapter resynthesizes the progression of innovations in public budgeting over the past century by setting them in the context of three underlying purposes: (1) providing a rationale for allocation decisions, (2) a quest for productivity improvement in the delivery of public services, and (3) adapting budget deliberations and decisions to the expectations of the public and their elected representatives. Reexamining the evolution of budget innovations through these three lenses provides a better understanding of why innovations emerged when they did, how they contributed to legitimizing the role of government in society, and the innovations in the budget process that we can anticipate in the near future.