
Ineconomics, theconsumption function describes a relationship betweenconsumption anddisposable income.[1][2] The concept is believed to have been introduced intomacroeconomics byJohn Maynard Keynes in 1936, who used it to develop the notion of agovernment spending multiplier.[3]
Its simplest form is thelinear consumption function used frequently in simpleKeynesian models:[4]
where is theautonomous consumption that is independent of disposable income; in other words, consumption when disposable income is zero. The term is theinduced consumption that is influenced by the economy's income level. The parameter is known as themarginal propensity to consume, i.e. the increase in consumption due to an incremental increase in disposable income, since. Geometrically, is theslope of the consumption function.
Keynes proposed this model to fit threestylized facts:[5]
By basing his model in how typical households decide how much to save and spend, Keynes was informally using amicrofoundation approach to the macroeconomics of saving.[7]
Keynes also took note of the tendency for the marginal propensity to consume to decrease as income increases, i.e..[8] If this assumption is to be used, it would result in a nonlinear consumption function with a diminishing slope. Further theories on the shape of the consumption function includeJames Duesenberry's (1949) relative consumption expenditure,[9]Franco Modigliani and Richard Brumberg's (1954)life-cycle hypothesis, andMilton Friedman's (1957)permanent income hypothesis.[10]
Some new theoretical works following Duesenberry's and based in behavioral economics suggest that a number of behavioural principles can be taken as microeconomic foundations for a behaviorally-based aggregate consumption function.[11]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)There are not many people who will alter their way of living because the rate of interest has fallen from 5 to 4 per cent, if their aggregate income is the same as before... the short-period influence of the rate of interest on individual spending out of a given income is secondary and relatively unimportant, except, perhaps, where unusually large changes are in question.
... recall Keynes's argument that the marginal propensity to consume should be between zero and one, or his discussion about whether the marginal efficiency of investment should be sensitive to current output or should depend primarily on "the state of long-term expectations." Those are microfoundations.
The marginal propensity to consume is not constant for all levels of employment, and it is probable that there will be, as a rule, a tendency for it to diminish as employment increases; when real income increases, that is to say, the community will wish to consume a gradually diminishing proportion of it.