The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act was enacted 40 years ago. It was not designed to address the core fiscal challenge of today's economy, which is the rapid rise in spending for federal entitlement programs. Moreover, the current budget process does not provide for the...

In a recent paper, we presented empirical evidence to show that strong budget institutions (rules and procedures of the budget process) were associated with more fiscal discipline even when the politics was unfavorable to such discipline. What then are the conditions under which budget...

The Russian federal government has recently initiated a fundamental reform of its budget system, encompassing important policy, procedural, and institutional changes. This paper reviews this reform agenda with reference to the experience of industrial countries that over the past two to three...

The Republic of Congo (Congo) boasts numerous assets that can be harnessed to build a strong and robust economy. These assets are oil, ore such as iron and potash, arable lands, and a young population. Congo is the fourth largest oil producer among West and Central African countries, both in...