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Bases of Budgetary Incrementalism

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  • Wanat, John

Abstract

This essay analyses the explanatory power of Davis, Dempster, and Wildavsky's theory of budgetary incrementalism. By means of sensitivity testing, it demonstrates that inferences to “gaming†or strategic explanations of budgetary incrementalism are not warranted on the basis of correlational analysis.To explain budgetary incrementalism more satisfactorily, recourse is made to concepts and variables explicit in the vocabulary of the budget process participants. When mandatory requests are distinguished from programmatic requests, the differential treatment of the two by Congress is observed to allow good explanation of budgetary relations. In particular, the inexorable but small mandatory request, which is almost automatically granted, is adequate by itself to explain why requests always increase and why one year's appropriation surpasses the previous one.

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  • Wanat, John, 1974. "Bases of Budgetary Incrementalism," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(3), pages 1221-1228, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:68:y:1974:i:03:p:1221-1228_10
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    Cited by:

    1. Wordliczek Lukasz, 2021. "Between incrementalism and punctuated equilibrium: the case of budget in Poland, 1995–2018," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 15(2), pages 14-30, December.
    2. Charles W. Ostrom Jr., 1977. "Evaluating Alternative Foreign Policy Decision-Making Models," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 21(2), pages 235-266, June.

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