Autonomous Consumption
The minimum level of consumption that would still exist even if a consumer had absolutely no income. This contrasts with discretionary consumption, which is used for non-essential items. When combined with discretionary income, a person's autonomous consumption determines his or her real income, or real wages.
Investopedia Says:
Certain bills and expenses are deemed to be autonomous, or "automatic", such as electricity, food and rent, because these expenses cannot ever be entirely eliminated. Even in the worst-case financial scenario, you would still need to eat and have a place to live. If a consumer's income were to disappear for a time, he or she would have to dip into savings or increase debt in order to pay these expenses, which is also known as being in a "dissaving mode".
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