Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Consumption function

 
Investment Dictionary: Consumption Function

The consumption function is a mathematical formula laid out by famed economist John Maynard Keynes. The formula was designed to show the relationship between real disposable income and consumer spending, the latter variable being what Keynes considered the most important determinant of short-term demand in an economy.

The consumption function is represented as:


Where:
C = Consumer spending
A = Autonomous consumption, or the level of consumption that would still exist even if income was $0
M = Marginal propensity to consume, which is the ratio of consumption changes to income changes
D = Real disposable income

Investopedia Says:
The consumption function is shown here to be linear, but that is dependent on the variable "M" (marginal propensity to consume) staying the same. In fact, consumers tend to spend a smaller percentage of their disposable income as it rises, creating a curved effect at higher income levels.

Related Links:
Does the amount of goods and services produced set the pace for economic growth? Here are the arguments. Understanding Supply-Side Economics


Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Business Dictionary: Consumption Function
Top

Mathematical relationship between level of consumption and level of income. It shows that consumption is greatly influenced by income.

Wikipedia: Consumption function
Top

In economics, the consumption function is a single mathematical function used to express consumer spending. It was developed by John Maynard Keynes and detailed most famously in his book The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. The function is used to calculate the amount of total consumption in an economy. It is made up of autonomous consumption that is not influenced by current income and induced consumption that is influenced by the economy's income level.

The simple consumption function is shown as the linear function:

C = c0 + c1Yd

where

  • C = total consumption,
  • c0 = autonomous consumption (c0 > 0),
  • c1 is the marginal propensity to consume (ie the induced consumption) (0 < c1 < 1), and
  • Yd = disposable income (income after taxes and transfer payments, or W – T).

Autonomous consumption represents consumption when income is zero. In estimation, this is usually assumed to be positive. The marginal propensity to consume (MPC), on the other hand measures the rate at which consumption is changing when income is changing. In a geometric fashion, the MPC is actually the slope of the consumption function.

The MPC is assumed to be positive. Thus, as income increases, consumption increases. However, Keynes mentioned that the increases (for income and consumption) are not equal. According to him, "as income increases, consumption increases but not by as much as the increase in income".

The Keynesian consumption function is also known as the absolute income hypothesis, as it only bases consumption on current income and ignores potential future income (or lack of). Criticism of this assumption lead to the development of Milton Friedman's permanent income hypothesis and Franco Modigliani's life cycle hypothesis.

See also

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Investment Dictionary. Copyright ©2000, Investopedia.com - Owned and Operated by Investopedia Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2000 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Consumption function" Read more