11 March 2025
Book co-authored by academics is shortlisted for prestigious prize
A book co-authored by two King’s academics has been shortlisted for a prestigious literary prize.
The Way the Money Goes takes a detailed look at what happened to the UK's fiscal constitution - the framework for planning and controlling public spending - under three different governments from the early 1990s to the mid-2010s.
The book, which was co-authored by Maia King and Barbara Piotrowska (King’s College London) with Christopher Hood and Iain McLean, is among titles that have been shortlisted for the WJM Mackenzie Book Prize.
The award is run by the Political Studies Association and the winner is set to be announced in April.
The book draws on more than 130 in-depth interviews with civil servants and ministers who were involved in public spending over a 20-year period, as well as documents from the same timeframe. It highlights that while key aspects and formal rules of the UK’s fiscal system remained unchanged over time, their enforcement was inconsistent, and spending classifications played a significant role in shaping financial decisions.
You can find out more about the book and the Mackenzie Book Prize here.
In this story
Lecturer in Public Policy
Lecturer in Economics