Budgetary Thought for Budget Officers: A Practitioner's Perspective

In this comprehensive essay on best practices for government budget officers, author Edward Anthony Lehan discusses budgeting as a craft rather than an art requiring virtuoso talent. This distinction is important because "craftsmanship" implies that the intellectual and practical aspects of budgeting can be codified and that the requisite knowledge and skill can be taught and learned.

Lehan strikes a critical note in the opening paragraph by identifying the necessity to ration scarce resourc...