Budget Analysis and Social Scientists

Last night we designed few graphics based on US budget.

Bars and lines are a great tool for decision-making. They organize numbers in historical contexts by relating political and social events to economic facts. They also compare present with past numbers and trigger discussions over desired scenarios.

Lines and bars not only guide but also help illustrate amounts of money that otherwise would be impossible to grasp. They, finally, help identify trends, resource allocation, and geopolitical strategies.

Budget is a management instrument that shows how much money should be spent, what areas have been spent on, and how much more should be raised. Without graphics representing percentages of outlays and receipts informed decisions would not be made, let alone strategic public policies.

Interesting to note that everyone who receives technical training is able to make graphics, but only few have the capacity to correctly and accurately interpret explicit and implicit information lying behind bars and lines over a period of time.

That is why public administrators ought to work along with a team made up of social scientists to ensure that lessons were learned and an equal and stable society is being built.