Reading a local budget

Financial citizenship is the idea that public money is the people’s business. This issue suggests a small exercise: find your barangay or city budget and ask three questions of it.

• Where does the money come from?
• How much reaches the public, and how much runs the office?
• What was promised last year, and was it done?

Also in this issue

A new article on financial citizenship is now on the site, and the bookstore lists the primer Financial Citizenship: Reading the Public Budget.