Budgeting for Social Equity: Exploring the (Nearly) Unknown
Open accessAbstract
Public administration has become increasingly concerned with social equity, particularly in budgetary processes. Local governments have adopted so-called equity budgeting practices, yet little is understood about how and why they are adopted; what budgeting practices are deemed social equity budgeting versus traditional budgeting; what is required to adopt and implement social equity budgeting successfully; and how success is measured. We analyzed government and nonprofit documents on social equity budgeting, followed by interviews with local government budget directors serving “early adopter cities” of social equity budgeting practices. We developed a framework of social equity budgeting practices to link the findings regarding systemic, societal, political, managerial, and legal practices needed for social equity budgeting among these early adopter cities. Five themes were identified that underlie the successful adoption of a social equity lens: broad grassroots efforts, receptive elective leaders, extended community engagement, buy-in by public administrators, and discourse on how to measure equity.
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The interview was developed using the dimensions of social equity developed by Johnson and Svara (2015) and further clarified in McDonald and McCandless (2025).
“The semistructured interview was developed using the dimensions of social equity developed by Johnson and Svara (2015) and further clarified in McDonald and McCandless (2025).”
From Participatory Budgeting for Social Equity: A Comparative Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as McDonald and McCandless 2025
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- Authors
- McDonald III, B. D., & McCandless, S. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois at Springfield (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Social Equity and Public Administration
- Publisher
- University of Minnesota
- Published
- 2025-01-02
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2832-9287 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4406030573
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 23.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Social Equity and Public Administration (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
- ODU Digital Commons (Old Dominion University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- 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
- local government budgeting, equity lens, community participation, elected officials
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