Bruce McDonald III

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Bio

Bruce D. McDonald III is a professor of public budgeting and finance in the Department of Public Administration at North Carolina State University. Currently, he serves as the editor-in-chief of Public Administration and the co-editor-in-chief of Public Finance Journal. A graduate of Florida State University and the London School of Economics, his current research focuses on social equity budgeting, the measurement of fiscal health within local governments, and the intellectual history of the public administration field. His research has appeared in the American Review of Public Administration, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, and the Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs, among others.

Office Hours

• Wed: 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Extension and Community Engagement

Public Administration, Editor-in-Chief

Public Finance Journal, co-Editor-in-Chief

Books

McDonald, B. D. (Forthcoming). Social Equity in Budgeting. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Jordan, M. M., & McDonald, B. D. (Forthcoming). Budgeting by Priorities: The Theory and Practice of Funding Decisions. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

Abbott, M. E., McDonald, B. D., & Hatcher, W. (Eds.). (2023). Social Equity in the Public Administration Classroom. New York, NY: Routledge.

Maher, C. S., Park, S., McDonald, B. D., & Deller, S. C. (2023). Understanding Municipal Fiscal Health: A Model for Local Governments in the USA. New York, NY: Routledge.

McDonald, B. D., & Hatcher, W. (Eds.). (2022). Work-Life Balance in Higher Education. New York, NY: Routledge.

McDonald, B. D., & Jordan, M. M. (Eds.). (2021). Teaching Public Budgeting and Finance: A Practical Guide. New York, NY: Routledge.

McDonald, B. D., & Hatcher, W. (Eds.). (2020). The Public Affairs Faculty Manual: A Guide to the Effective Management of Public Affairs Programs. New York, NY: Routledge.

Selective Research Publications

McDonald, B. D., & McCandless, S. (Forthcoming). Budgeting for Social Equity: Exploring the (Nearly) Unknown. Journal of Social Equity and Public Administration.

Menifield, C. E., Estorcien, C., Ndongo, J. C., Quispe, M. P., & McDonald, B. D. (2024). Retention and Recruitment of Minority Students and Faculty in Public Affairs and Administration Programs. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 30(1), 97-117.

Larson, S. E., & McDonald, B. D. (2023). Taxation and Citizen Choice: The Effect of a County Charter on Property Taxes. Public Budgeting and Finance, 43(1), 64-84.

McDonald, B. D., Hall, J. L., O’Flynn, J., & van Thiel, S. (2022). The Future of Public Administration Research: An Editor’s Perspective. Public Administration, 100(1), 59-71.

Goodman, C. B., Hatch, M. E., & McDonald, B. D. (2021). State Preemption of Local Laws: Origins and Modern Trends. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 4(2), 146-158.

McDonald, B. D., & Goodman, C. B. (2021). The Truth about Honesty in the Nonprofit Sector. Public Administration Quarterly, 45(2), 188-210.

McDonald, B. D., Decker, J. W., & Johnson, B. A. M. (2021). You Don’t Always Get What You Want: The Effect of Financial Incentives on State Fiscal Health. Public Administration Review, 81(3), 365-374.

McDonald, B. D. (2021). A Human Capital Model of the Defense-Growth Relationship. Social Science Journal, 58(2), 247-261.

McDonald, B. D., & Larson, S. E. (2020). Implications of the Coronavirus on Sales Tax Revenue and Local Government Fiscal Health. Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs, 6(3), 377-400.

Gabrini, C. J., McDonald, B. D., & Eger, R. J. (2020). Does the Presence of an Internal Audit Affect the Outcome of a Municipality’s Audit of Its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report? Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 22(10), 124-137

McDonald, B. D., & Maher, C. S. (2019). Do We Really Need Another Municipal Fiscal Health Analysis? Assessing the Effectiveness of Fiscal Health Systems. Public Finance and Management, 19(4), 268-291.

McDonald, B. D. (2018). Local Governance and the Issue of Fiscal Health. State and Local Government Review, 50(1), 46-55.

Kim, J., McDonald, B. D., & Lee, J. (2018). The Nexus of State and Local Capacity in Vertical Policy Diffusion. American Review of Public Administration, 48(2), 188-200.

McDonald, B. D. (2015). Does the Charter Form Improve the Fiscal Health of Counties? Public Administration Review, 75(4), 609-618.

McDonald, B. D., & Gabrini, C. J. (2014). Determinants of Charter County Decisions: An Event History Analysis of Florida Counties.  Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24(4), 721-739.

Publications

• The Determinants of Fiscal Health: An Exploration of Municipalities in Brazil , INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (2024)
• The curious public administrator , TEACHING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (2024)
• The scholarship of teaching and learning in public administration: An agenda for future research , JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION (2024)
• Introduction to the issue , JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION (2023)
• Introduction to the issue , JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION (2023)
• Introduction to the issue , JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION (2023)
• Lessons in Social Equity: A Case Study Book , TEACHING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (2023)
• Ranking scholarly publishers in public administration , JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION (2023)
• Retention and recruitment of minority students and faculty in public affairs and administration programs , JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION (2023)
• Scholarly hypocrisy or apostasy in public administration: Preaching to the choir, or to an empty room? , PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW (2023)

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