CONSUMPTION LINE: A graphical depiction of the relation between household consumption expenditures and household disposable income that forms one of the key building blocks for Keynesian economics. The slope of this line is positive, greater than zero, less than one, and goes by the name marginal propensity to consume. The vertical intercept of the consumption line is autonomous consumption. The aggregate expenditures line used in the Keynesian cross is obtained by adding investment, government purchases, and net exports to the consumption line. Because saving is the difference between disposable income and consumption, the saving line is a complementary relation to the consumption line.

     See also | consumption function | Keynesian economics | consumption expenditures | disposable income | marginal propensity to consume | aggregate expenditures | aggregate expenditures line | Keynesian cross | induced consumption | autonomous consumption |

CONSUMPTION LINE, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: July 3, 2025].

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A change in aggregate expenditures on real production made by the household, business, government, and foreign sectors that results because a change in the price level alters the purchasing power of money. This is one of three effects underlying the negative slope of the aggregate demand curve associated with a movement along the aggregate demand curve and a change in aggregate expenditures. The other two are interest-rate effect and net-export effect. The real-balance effect is somewhat analogous to the income effect underlying the negative slope of the market demand curve.

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