1.    Sara Giovanna Mauro, L. C. (2021). The British Accounting Review. England: British Accounting
and Finance Association.

In this article Sara Giovanna Mauro (2021) aims to uncover the challenges that organizational
actors face when implementing performance-based budgeting. Through the analysis of interviews,
policy documents, and governmental reports, the paper investigates the challenges encountered in
implementing performance-based budgeting in the context of an Italian ministry. The analysis
reveals that integrating goals, values, and communication among actors, as well as performing an
illusionary analysis of real possibilities, pose significant challenges in implementing
performance-based budgeting reform. These factors result in the formation of two distinct types of
illusion in the overall understanding of what "performance" is, as well as an attempt by
administrators to game the system by erecting a deceptive apparatus behind a guise of compliance
and due process. This work contributes to understanding necessary conditions for the implementation
of performance-based budgeting and adds a broader perspective to discussions on the effectiveness
of New Performance Management by providing empirical evidence on the constraints that prevent
private sector reforms from being used in the public sector.

2.      David Leblang, Michael D. Smith, Dennis Wesselbaum (2022).  “The effect of trust on
economic performance and financial access”. Economics Letters, Volume 220, 2022, 110884.

In this paper, David Leblang et al. (2022) explores the effects of institutional trust on
individual-level outcomes. Using data that was gathered through face-to-face and telephone
interviewing by Gallup World Poll, researchers examine whether the effects of trust are linked with
the economic development of the country, the optimal level of trust and its connection with
performance, as well as the relationship between individual-level trust and access to financial
services. It was proven that economic development increases financial access and that institutional
trust is linked with income; high-income countries had higher institutional trust. The findings
suggest that there is an optimal level of trust where income and financial access are greatest. The
study is valuable as it highlights the importance of an often overlooked factor—institutional
trust—on economic performance and can be considered useful on an individual level for improving
financial access, especially in low-income countries.

3. Cook, W. (2021). Does funding targeted at improving the management of schools. Economics Letters

In this article Cook Will (2021) examines the impact of a policy in England that ran from 2003 to
2006 and provided additional funding to low-performing schools with the goal of improving the
school's middle and senior management capabilities. According to the findings of this study, the
funding did improve school performance, implying that targeted, time-limited funding to improve
school management can improve school performance in the long run. However, regression discontinuity
estimates were only applicable to schools in economically depressed areas, precluding a
cost-benefit analysis of the policy as a whole. Another implication was that policy required more
time to produce positive results. This paper is useful in considering the role of budgeting in
low-performing schools and improvements in school management funding that led to
improved performance.