本文主要關注環境變遷對於政府預算運作的影響，基於台北市政府財政近況轉趨窘困的事實背景，本研究選取台北市政府為觀察對象，根據Allen Schick財政壓力下總體和個體的預算調適觀點來探討下列問題：財政壓力下地方總預算的籌編過程包含哪些重要的特徵？財政壓力下台北市政府總體和個體的預算調適行為有哪些？各局處首長爭取或保護預算的策略有何重要的差異？財政壓力對地方總預算的分配結果是否產生顯著的影響？本研究將採取文獻探討、年度概（預）算資料分析和深度訪談法等質化研究途徑，來回答上述的問題。 本研究從台北市政府個案的研究發現：在財政壓力日益明顯之際，由上而下的總預算籌編過程顯得愈來愈重要，早期為遏止公共支出膨脹而實施的歲出額度制，強調事先額度分配的控管機制也愈來愈發達；然而，不管在預算決策型態或者分配結果，依然反映出濃厚的漸進行為模式，只是趨向漸減預算的方向而已。在個體的預算調適方面，台北市政府採行對抗為主、緩和為輔的混和模式來回應；類似於許多OECD國家的作法，台北市政府也儘量避免一次大幅度刪減，傾向於藉由現行的程序來推動逐步的預算刪減或邊際調整；支出刪減的決策上往往遷就公平原則，比較少見追求效率或管理目標的考慮。最後，機關首長也傾向於採取步步為營、保護既有預算的防衛策略，來應付不確定性升高的預算環境。

Government budgeting is quite sensitive to changes in the environment. This paper is mainly concerned with how changes in the fiscal conditions affect the budgetary decision-making and adaptations for local governments. Taipei Municipal Government has been chosen for case study since its fiscal conditions have getting worse during recent years. Capitalizing on the perspectives of macro/micro budgetary adaptations from Allen Schick, this research attempts to explore the following important issues: major characteristics of the budget preparation process under fiscal stress, macro/micro budgetary adaptations to fiscal stress for local governments, changes in the budget strategy for each department head, and major differences in budget outcomes due to the presence of fiscal pressures. Several qualitative approaches, such as the literature review, annual budget data analysis and in-depth interview, are used to answer the above questions. The findings suggest that the top-down process for general budget preparation is increasingly important under fiscal stress. However, the budget allocations and decision-making still follow the lead of incrementalism, only with an opposite direction of decremental budgeting. On the micro-budgetary adaptation side, Taipei Municipal Government has adopted mixed strategies to cope with the continuing fiscal stress. Similar to the measure used in OECD countries, the Municipal Government has avoided deep cuts at a time. Additionally, its cutback decisions tend to emphasize the equity principle and, most often, engage in across-the-board cuts, with fairly little consideration on the efficiency and effectiveness. Finally, most department heads rely heavily upon the defensive strategies in dealing with the uncertainties from budget environment.