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The marginalization of absolute and relative income hypotheses of consumption and the role of fiscal policy

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  • Stavros A. Drakopoulos

Abstract

Contrary to Keynes’ and Duesenberry’s consumption theories, absolute or relative income plays a minimal role in the life-cycle and in the permanent-income hypotheses. It plays an even lesser role in contemporary orthodox consumption functions which are extensions of these two theories in a rational-expectations framework. As a result, the theoretical effectiveness of fiscal policy for raising output is greatly diminished. The paper argues that Keynes’ and Duesenberry’s approaches were marginalised not because of their empirical or theoretical shortcomings, but because of emphasising the psychological and social influences on consumption patterns, and because of not employing the intertemporal utility maximising framework.

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  • Stavros A. Drakopoulos, 2021. "The marginalization of absolute and relative income hypotheses of consumption and the role of fiscal policy," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 965-984, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:28:y:2021:i:6:p:965-984
    DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2021.1946120
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B20 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - General
    • B40 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - General
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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