Chapter
10 / expenditure multipliersOutline
Economic Amplifier or Shock Absorber?
A. A voice can be a whisper or fill Central Park, depending on the amplification.
B. A limousine with good shock absorbers can ride smoothly over terrible potholes.
C. Investment and exports can fluctuate like the amplified voice, or the terrible potholes; does the economy react like a limousine, smoothing out the bumps, or like an amplifier, magnifying the fluctuations? These are the questions this chapter addresses.
I. Fixed Prices and Expenditure Plans
A. The Aggregate Implications of Fixed Prices
1. In the very short run, prices are fixed and the aggregate amount that is sold depends only on the aggregate demand for goods and services.
2. Therefore in this very short run, we must focus on what causes aggregate demand to fluctuate.
B. Expenditure Plans
1. The four components of aggregate expenditure—consumption expenditure, investment, government purchases of goods and services, and net exports—sum to real GDP.
2. Aggregate planned expenditure equals planned consumption expenditure plus planned investment plus planned government purchases plus planned exports minus planned imports.
3. A two-way link exists between aggregate expenditure and real GDP:
a) An increase in aggregate expenditure increases real GDP.
b) Planned consumption expenditure and planned imports depend on real GDP, so an increase in real GDP increases aggregate planned expenditure.
C. Consumption Function and Saving Function
1. Consumption and saving depend on the real interest rate, disposable income, wealth, and expected future income.
a) Disposable income is aggregate income minus taxes plus transfer payments.
b) To explore the two-way link between real GDP and planned consumption expenditure, we focus on the relationship between consumption expenditure and disposable income when the other factors are constant.
2. The relationship between consumption expenditure and disposable income, other things remaining the same, is the consumption function. And the relationship between saving and disposable income, other things remaining the same, is the saving function.
3. Figure 25.1 (page 577/231) illustrates the consumption function and the saving function.
D. Marginal Propensities to Consume and Save
1. The marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is the fraction of a change in disposable income spent on consumption. It is calculated as the change in consumption expenditure, DC, divided by the change in disposable income, DYD, that brought it about. That is:
MPC = DC/DYD.
2. The marginal propensity to save (MPS) is the fraction of a change in disposable income that is saved. It is calculated as the change in saving, DS, divided by the change in disposable income, DYD, that brought it about. That is:
MPS = DS/DYD.
3. The MPC plus the MPS equals one. To see why, note that,
DC + DS = DYD.
4. Divide this equation by DYD to obtain,
DC/DYD + DS/DYD = DYD/DYD, or.
MPC + MPS = 1.
E. Slopes and Marginal Propensities
1. Figure 25.2 (page 579/233) shows that the MPC is the slope of the consumption function and the MPS is the slope of the saving function.
F. Other Influences on Consumption Expenditure and Saving
1. When an influence other than disposable income changes — the real interest rate, wealth, or expected future income—the consumption function and saving function shift.
2. Figure 25.3 (page 580/234) illustrates.
G. The U.S. Consumption Function
1. Data for the United States show that the consumption function has shifted upward over time because economic growth has created greater wealth and higher expected future income.
2. Figure 25.4 (page 581/235) illustrates for 1961 to 2001; the assumed MPC in the figure is 0.9.
H. Consumption as a Function of Real GDP
1. Disposable income changes when either real GDP changes or when net taxes change.
2. If tax rates don’t change, real GDP is the only influence on disposable income, so consumption expenditure is a function of real GDP.
3. We use this relationship to determine equilibrium expenditure.
I. Import Function
1. In the short run, imports are influenced primarily by U.S. real GDP.
2. The marginal propensity to import is the fraction of an increase in real GDP spent on imports. In recent years, NAFTA and increased integration in the global economy have increased U.S. imports. Removing the effects of these influences, the U.S. marginal propensity to import is probably about 0.2.
II. Real GDP with a Fixed Price Level
A. The relationship between aggregate planned expenditure and real GDP can be described by an aggregate expenditure schedule, which lists the level of aggregate expenditure planned at each level of real GDP, or by the aggregate expenditure curve, which is a graph of the aggregate expenditure schedule.
B. Aggregate Planned Expenditure and Real GDP
1. The table in Figure 25.5 (page 582/236) shows how the aggregate expenditure schedule is constructed from the components of aggregate planned expenditure.
2. Consumption expenditure minus imports, which varies with real GDP, is induced expenditure.
3. The sum of investment, government purchases, and exports, which does not vary with GDP, is autonomous expenditure. (Consumption expenditure and imports can have an autonomous component.)
C. Actual Expenditure, Planned Expenditure, and Real GDP
1. Actual aggregate expenditure is always equal to real GDP.
2. Aggregate planned expenditure may differ from actual aggregate expenditure because firms can have unplanned changes in inventories.
D. Equilibrium Expenditure
1. Equilibrium expenditure is the level of aggregate expenditure that occurs when aggregate planned expenditure equals real GDP.
2. Figure 25.6 (page 584/238) illustrates equilibrium expenditure, which occurs at the point at which the aggregate expenditure curve crosses the 45° line and there are no unplanned changes in business inventories.
E. Convergence to Equilibrium
1. Figure 25.6 also illustrates the process of convergence toward equilibrium expenditure. If aggregate planned expenditure is greater than real GDP (the AE curve is above the 45° line), an unplanned decrease in inventories induces firms to hire workers and increase production, so real GDP increases.
2. If aggregate planned expenditure is less than real GDP (the AE curve is below the 45° line), an unplanned increase in inventories induces firms to fire workers and decrease production, so real GDP decreases.
3. If aggregate planned expenditure equals real GDP (the AE curve intersects the 45° line), no unplanned changes in inventories occur, so firms maintain their current production and real GDP remains constant.
III. The Multiplier
A. The multiplier is the amount by which a change in autonomous expenditure is magnified or multiplied to determine the change in equilibrium expenditure and real GDP.
B. The Basic Idea of the Multiplier
1. An increase in investment (or any other component of autonomous expenditure) increases aggregate expenditure and real GDP and the increase in real GDP leads to an increase in induced expenditure.
2. The increase in induced expenditure leads to a further increase in aggregate expenditure and real GDP. So, real GDP increases by more than the initial increase in autonomous expenditure.
3. Figure 25.7 (page 587/241) illustrates the multiplier.
C. The Multiplier Effect
1. The amplified change in real GDP that follows an increase in autonomous expenditure is the multiplier effect.
2. When autonomous expenditure increases, inventories make an unplanned decrease, so firms increase production and real GDP increases to a new equilibrium.
D. Why Is the Multiplier Greater than 1?
The multiplier is greater than 1 because an increase in autonomous expenditure induces further increases in expenditure.
E. The Size of the Multiplier
The size of the multiplier is the change in equilibrium expenditure divided by the change in autonomous expenditure.
F. The Multiplier and the Marginal Propensities to Consume and Save
1. Ignoring imports and income taxes, the marginal propensity to consume determines the magnitude of the multiplier.
2. The multiplier equals 1/(1 – MPC)or, alternatively, 1/MPS.
3. Figure 25.8 (page 589/243) illustrates the multiplier process and shows how the MPC determines the magnitude of the amount of induced expenditure at each round as aggregate expenditure moves toward equilibrium expenditure.
G. Imports and Income Taxes
Income taxes and imports both reduce the size of the multiplier. Including income taxes and imports, the multiplier equals 1/(1 – slope of the AE curve).
Figure 25.9 (page 590/244) shows the relation between the multiplier and the slope of the AE curve.
H. Business Cycle Turning Points
1. Turning points in the business cycle—peaks and troughs—occur when autonomous expenditure changes.
2. An increase in autonomous expenditure brings an unplanned decrease in inventories, which triggers an expansion.
3. A decrease in autonomous expenditure brings an unplanned increase in inventories, which triggers a recession.
IV. The Multiplier and the Price Level
A. In the equilibrium expenditure model, the price level remains constant. But real firms don’t hold their prices constant for long. When they have an unplanned change in inventories, they change production and prices. And the price level changes when firms change prices. The aggregate supply-aggregate demand model explains the simultaneous determination of real GDP and the price level. The two models are related.
B. Aggregate Expenditure and Aggregate Demand
1. The aggregate expenditure curve is the relationship between aggregate planned expenditure and real GDP, with all other influences on aggregate planned expenditure remaining the same.
2. The aggregate demand curve is the relationship between the quantity of real GDP demanded and the price level, with all other influences on aggregate demand remaining the same.
C. Aggregate Expenditure and the Price Level
1. When the price level changes, a wealth effect and substitution effect change aggregate planned expenditure and change the quantity of real GDP demanded.
2. Figure 25.10 (page 592/246) illustrates the effects of a change in the price level on the AE curve, equilibrium expenditure, and the quantity of real GDP demanded.
a) In Figure 25.10(a), a rise in price level from 110 to 130 shifts the AE curve from AE0 downward to AE1and decreases the equilibrium level of real output from $10 trillion to $9 trillion.
b) In Figure 25.10(b), the same rise in the price level that lowers equilibrium expenditure, brings a movement along the AD curve to point A.
c) A fall in price level from 110 to 90 shifts the AE curve from AE0upward to AE2 and increases equilibrium l real GDP from $10 trillion to $11 trillion.
d) The same fall in the price level that raises equilibrium expenditure brings a movement along the AD curve to point C.
e) Points A, B, and C on the AD curve correspond to the equilibrium expenditure points A, B, and C at the intersection of the AE curve and the 45° line.
3. Figure 25.11 (page 593/247) illustrates the effects of an increase in autonomous expenditure. An increase in autonomous expenditure shifts the aggregate expenditure curve upward and shifts the aggregate demand curve rightward by the multiplied increase in equilibrium expenditure.
D. Equilibrium Real GDP and the Price Level
1. Figure 25.12 (page 594/248) shows the effect of an increase in investment in the short run when the prices level changes and the economy moves along its SAS curve.
2. The rise in the price level decreases aggregate planned expenditure and lowers the multiplier effect on real GDP.
3. In Figure 25.12(b), the AD curve shifts rightward by the amount of the multiplier effect but equilibrium real GDP increases by less than this amount because of the rise in the price level. In Figure 25.12(b) real GDP increases from $10 trillion from $11.3 trillion, instead of to $12 trillion as it does with a fixed price level.
4. Figure 25.13 (page 595/249) illustrates the long-run effects of an increase in autonomous expenditure at full employment. If the increase in autonomous expenditure takes real GDP above potential GDP, the money wage rate rises, the SAS curve shifts leftward, and real GDP decreases until it is back at potential real GDP. The long-run multiplier is zero.
In the short run, the price level rises.