Introduction to Public Management
Instructors
Hideaki TANAKA
Credits / Language / Semester
2Credits / English / Winter
Objectives/Overview
This course is intended to improve our understanding of major contemporary developments in public management, in particular to provide the framework for thinking about how governments can attain sound fiscal performance. The course discusses the public sector as a whole, but focuses mainly on public financial management (PFM). PFM is concerned with the planning, management, control and accountability of public financial resources and typically includes budgeting, financial management, accounting and auditing. Students can learn best practices on public sector reform and financial management in the world.
Governments have been launching major public sector reform programs now for over twenty years. Traditional public sectors are under pressure to change and seem to be evolving. In the 1970s, one normally talked of "public Administration". In the 1980s came the move to "new public management" (NPM), embraced by some and criticized by others. These changes have had the effect of attracting additional academic disciplines to the study of reformed public management. Recently, some have argued that there is a further shift from NPM to new public service or governance. Is the NPM more than a fad? The course will examine the idea of NPM critically, and discuss the transformation of public sector and public governance in the wider sense. The course will focus on not only experiences in developed countries including Japan but also those in developing countries. Students will be encouraged to discuss and analyze issues and problems in their own countries.
Keywords
New public management, public financial management, governance, budgeting, evaluation, performance, accounting, privatization, civil service
Schedule
[Week 1: Introduction]
Objective and outline of course, Public financial management
Common pool problem, Budget and political institutions
[Week 2: Political economy of budget]
Nature and problems of government finance including common pool problem
Budget and fiscal institutions, political institutions and electoral system
Determination of deficit and debt
[Week 3: Budget systems and framework]
Legal framework of budget
Budget systems, coverage and classification of budget
Budget process, cash management
[Week 4: Fiscal rules]
Definitions and roles of fiscal rules
Good and bad rules, conditions for making fiscal rules effective in keeping fiscal discipline
[Week 5: Medium-term fiscal framework]
Medium-term fiscal framework (MTFF)
[Week 6: Evaluation and performance]
Theories of evaluation and performance measurement
Logic model,strategic plan and management
[Week 7: Performance budgeting]
Theories and practices of performance budgeting
Model of budgeting
[Week 8: Privatization]
Nature and classification of goods and services
Development of privatization
[Week 9: Agency, outsourcing and PFI/PPP]
Unbundle of government services
Alternatives to provide public services
Private Finance Initiative (PFI) / Public Private Partnership (PPP)
[Week 10: Procurement and corruption]
Some countries have been reforming procurement system in terms of VFM.
Privatization and decentralization are likely to cause corruption, so the importance of protecting public money should be strengthened.
[Week 11: Public sector accounting]
Budgetary accounting, Financial and management accounting
Cash and accrual accounting
[Week 12] Decentralization and Intergovernmental fiscal relation
How to balance between autonomy and control to ensure fiscal discipline for local governments
[Week 13] New public management and public sector reforms
Theories and ideas of NPM, pros and cons of NPM, international comparison in practice of NPM
Understanding public administration and civil service system
Comparative public administration and reform
Relevance of other countries' reform to your countries
[Week 14] Public sector governance and modernizing government
Public governance and accountability
Beyond NPM and agenda for modernizing government
[Week 15] Conclusion
Overview and summary of this course
Teaching Methods
Each class is basically organized as follows.
1. All of students are expected to read some of references before a class and are required to have short presentations on a few references from the list or other research questions except the first few classes.
2. The instructor makes comments on students' presentation and provides further information and knowledge, in particular actual examples and experiences. Students are expected to contribute to each session through discussing issues and problems on each topic.
Grading
Class attendance: 30%, Presentation at class: 30%, Term paper: 40%
A presentation summarizes the content of references above in which a student is interested.
They can also choose other references based on the lecturer's approval.
A term paper will be due on a date after the week 13, which will be suggested later. Students are recommended to turn in a paper which describes an outline they are going to write by the end of this course in order to direct them to a term paper. A student is suggested to choose a theme from the following examples. He or she can choose other topic which is relevant to the lectures based on lecturer's approval.
(1) To describe the nature and characteristics of one or a few of following areas in your country and analyze major problems of it; budgeting, resource allocation, accounting, audit, financial management, privatization and outsourcing.
(2) To assess PFM or fiscal transparency of your country with the standards.
(3) To compare your country's budgeting and financial management with Japanese or other countries' one.
(4) To discuss and analyze an overall public sector reform in your country.
Required Textbooks
Not specific
Reference Books
The lsit of detailed references will be provided at the first class.
Notes on Taking the Course
This course is aimed at officials in the public sector and those who are interested in managing government finances.