Share This Article:

Economic Definition of zero-base budget. Defined.

Offline Version: PDF

Term zero-base budget Definition: A method of budgeting expenditures in which each expenditure is justified on its overall merits rather than being based on the budget for the previous year. A zero-base budget is most often proposed (but seldom implemented) for governments. Governments generally establish budget expenditures based on expenditures for the previous year. If, for example, budget expenditures last year were $100 billion, the requested budget for this year might be set at $110 billion. The existing $100 billion is a "given" and only the extra $10 billion is justified. With a zero-base budget, the entire $110 billion is justified.

 

« zero-sum game | zero growth »

Permalink: https://glossary.econguru.com/economic-term/zero-base+budget

Alphabetical Reference to Over 2,000 Economic Terms