Paying the Bills at the Junta of Andalusia

Abstract:
This case explores the ways in which a seemingly mundane, undramatic function--the way in which a government pays its bills--can be linked to basic public perceptions of governmental legitimacy and efficiency. The question of how to organize bill-paying arises in the context of the emergence of the relatively autonomous regional government of Andalusia, part of the constellation of new regional governments which took form in Spain after the fall of Franco and the establishment of the Spanish democracy. The case frames the problems faced by the chief of the new Andalusian government's treasury section as he ponders how to organize the "production process" through which the government will attend to its financial obligations.

Learning Objective:
The case is designed to introduce students to such concepts of public management as "value creation" and the ways in which they are related to larger political issues. Thus is the relationship explored between the processing of checks and the organization of democracy.