Many believe the work should be financed by the 'public purse'. [=should be paid for by the government]
Companies are expected to 'loosen the purse strings' as the economy improves.
School administrators are already 'tightening (the) purse strings'.
(..) People starve, the masses are enslaved, and Caesar answers with less bread and more circuses. But I can't complain. Their excessive nature lines my purses. Is that why you're going to Jerusalem? There'll be opportunities to race. The Prefect is celebrating himself with a tremendous circus (..)2016 Ben-Hur