Principles of Economics/Multipliers

The Concept The multiplier effect refers to the idea that an initial spending rise can lead to even greater increase in national income. In other words, an initial change in aggregate demand can cause a further change in aggregate output for the economy. This is because the newly circulated money changes hands several times, each time shrinking in amount due to savings yet adding more to economic activity. Eventually, this cycle involves infinitesimally small amounts of money, so the cycle actually does come to an end, based on the basic geometric series rule: For example: A company spends $1 million to build a factory. This money goes to builders, who in total now have $1 million. They may save 25% of that and use the rest to buy goods. The producers of those goods obtain 75% of the original $1 million and save 25% of that, then spend some more. The multiplier here is 4, because an initial $1 million injected into the economy eventually becomes used the equivalent of four times. The Multipliers Note: In the following examples the multiplier is the right-hand-side equation without the first component. y is original output (GDP) is marginal propensity of consumption (MPC) is original income tax rate is marginal propensity to import is change in output (equivalent to GDP) is change in lump-sum tax rate is change in income tax rate is change in government spending is change in aggregate taxes is change in investment is change in exports Standard Lump-sum Tax Equation Note: only is here because if this is a change in lump-sum tax rate then is implied to be 0. Standard Income Tax Equation Note: only is here because if this is a change in income tax rate then is implied to be 0. Standard Government Spending Equation Standard Investment Equation Standard Exports Equation Balanced-Budget Government Spending Equation