Behavioral Budgeting

Budgets are the link between human behavior and financial resources. The rationale behind budgets is influencing behavior in order to ensure that policy objetives are met. However, while this favorable function has been investigated broadly, dysfunctional behavior has received less scholarly attention. Dysfunctional effects of budgeting have been explored mainly at the beginning (budget preparation) and the end (budget control) of the budgeting cycle. The present area of research explores these distinct behavioral aspects in the context of budget execution and thereby offers insights into a crucial but yet mainly neglected aspect in the Management of public finances.