Incrementalism is a theoretical perspective used to describe government budget growth around the middle of the twentieth century in the United States. Aaron Wildavsky (1964) explained a framework in which budget development is backward looking, based on history and past policy. That is, current budget deliberations are anchored on past agreements, thereby keeping conflict to a minimum. Budget allocation is based on political promises of goods and services to be provided. Rather than representing any grand scheme for government, the budget was the result of successive limited comparisons or consideration at the margins- the most important determinant of next year's budget was this year's budget. This perspective of budgeting regarded a process in the United States at the time that was routine.
There were annual, repetitive roles among the president, executive (central) budget examiners, agency heads, and budget and program officers in terms of developing spending requests, and the congressional committee and subcommittee members in terms of determining appropriations.