Spending Reviews: A Comparison of Italian Experience with the Most Successful European Practices

Abstract

Over the last decade several countries have introduced and carried out, in different ways and varying degrees, some form of performance review or spending review as cultural change and economic development. Both consist in a set of procedures but they differ in terms of objectives pursued. Performance procedures assess expenditure from the point of view of efficiency whereas spending review procedures analyse the efficacy of programs and resource allocation. Both sets share the overall objective of improving management and control of expenditure by means of:

• the rationalization of budget processes (expenditure tendencies and mechanisms that inform spending);
• continuous assessment of efficacy levels; (Daniel Landau, 1986 Economic Development and Cultural Change)
• control of efficiency and quality of spending programs. (Albert O. Hirschman 1965 Economic Development and Cultural Change)