Citizen Participation in Budgeting Theory
Abstract
Citizen participation in government budgeting processes is a topic that has received attention for many decades. Despite prescriptive exhortations to cities, research in this area has significant limitations. We identify four elements that are believed to influence the participation process. The variables within each element have received attention in the empirical literature, but no systematic effort has been made to uncover interaction effects and extend theory to make it more robust. We consider the weaknesses of our knowledge, suggest an impact model of citizen participation in budgeting, and identify hypotheses that may be tested in future research.
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Political buy-in is necessary for an effective participatory budgeting program.
“Research suggests that political buy-in is necessary for an effective PB program (Ebdon and Franklin 2006;Yang and Pandey 2011).”
From Participatory Budgeting for Social Equity: A Comparative Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as Ebdon and Franklin 2006
Participatory budgeting practices can inform government officials of citizen preferences, thus reducing the information asymmetry that exists on behalf of local governments.
“When done well, PB practices can inform government officials of citizen preferences, thus reducing the information asymmetry that exists on behalf of local governments (Cabannes and Lipietz 2018;Ebdon and Franklin 2006).”
From Participatory Budgeting for Social Equity: A Comparative Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as Ebdon and Franklin 2006
Participatory budgeting increases trust in government at the local level.
“Perhaps the most beneficial impact of PB in terms of government benefits are the consistent findings that it increases trust in government at the local level (Ebdon and Franklin 2006;Johnson et al. 2021;Kim and Schachter 2013;Swaner 2017;Wilkinson et al. 2019;Yang and Pandey 2011).”
From Participatory Budgeting for Social Equity: A Comparative Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as Ebdon and Franklin 2006
Cites
A Ladder Of Citizen Participation
Arnstein, S. R. (1969) · Journal of the American Institute of Planners · doi:10.1080/01944366908977225 · Cited by 17,064 · see citing works
The question of participation: Toward Authentic public participation in public administration
King, C. S., Feltey, K. M., & Susel, B. O. (1998) · Public Administration Review · doi:10.2307/977561 · Cited by 702 · see citing works
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Government Openness and Public Trust: The Mediating Role of Democratic Capacity
Schmidthuber, L., Ingrams, A., & Hilgers, D. (2021) · Public Administration Review · doi:10.1111/puar.13298 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Coursey, D., Yang, K., & Pandey, S. K. (2012) · Public Administration Review · doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2011.02581.x · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Shybalkina, I. (2022) · Public Administration · doi:10.1111/padm.12754 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Participatory Budgeting for Social Equity: A Comparative Analysis
Taylor, C. R., Afshan, S., & Lawrence, K. L. (2025) · Public Administration · doi:10.1111/padm.13055 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“When done well, PB practices can inform government officials of citizen preferences, thus reducing the information asymmetry that exists on behalf of local governments (Cabannes and Lipietz 2018; Ebdon and Franklin 2006).”
InfluentialHow Successful is Participatory Budgeting in Promoting Social Equity? Evidence from New York City
Kuenneke, A., & Scutelnicu, G. (2021) · Public Administration Quarterly · doi:10.37808/paq.45.4.2 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Citizens Engaging Government: Participatory Budgeting in Greensboro, North Carolina
Afonso, W. B. (2017) · Public Administration Quarterly · doi:10.1177/073491491704100102 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ebdon, C., & Franklin, A. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Oklahoma (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ebdon, Carol
- Franklin, Aimee L
- ORCID
- Franklin, Aimee L
- Venue
- Public Administration Review
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2006-05
- Volume
- 66
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 437-447
- ISSN
- 0033-3352 (ISSN-L)
- 1540-6210
- OpenAlex
- W2157594341
- Cited by
- 328
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 15.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Public Administration Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Public Administration › Public Policy and Administration Research
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Local Government Finance and Decentralization
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Fiscal Policies and Political Economy
- Keywords
- citizen participation, government budgeting, local government, local government budgeting, participatory budgeting, IMPACT model, interaction effects
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