A computerized mapping system originally developed for planning the control of the spruce budworm in Maine has been extended into a tool for planning road network development and optimizing transportation costs. A budgetary process and a mathematical linear programming routine are used interactively with the mapping and information retrieval capabilities of the system to determine the allocatio...

This paper reviews the food safety regulatory apparatus in place today. It examines the system's strengths and vulnerabilities, particularly in light of the post-September 11 environment that includes the added threat of terrorism. The paper touches upon legislative and budgetary proposals aimed at improving food security, including the growing but debated interest in a single food safety agency.

Primary care is experiencing another wholesale reorganisation as the government’s “new NHS” is implemented. The intention is to bring general practitioners and other healthcare professionals together at a local level to assess the needs of their shared populations and to ensure that resources are allocated to meet those needs. The mechanisms chosen for England (primary care groups) and Wales (l...

Reform of budgetary institutions1 is a continuous and never-ending process. Interest in such reforms can be traced back for at least 2000 years. For example, Roman planners of the Claudian aqueducts considered eventual O&M costs in selecting alternative routes and designs. In more modern times, there is evidence of a stream of reforms from the “tally sticks” used to record the budget in sevente...

The federal government buys many goods and services that are expected to increase private-sector productivity—that is, the ability of the private-sector workforce, using the stock of capital, to produce goods and services. Such purchases by the federal government are called investment. In an earlier report, the Congressional Budget Office examined various aspects of federal investment itself, s...