In: Economics
State whether the following statement is True, False, or Uncertain. Be sure to explain your answer.
The marginal propensity to consume from a permanent parallel upward shift in the production function is smaller than the marginal propensity to consume from a temporary parallel upward shift in the production function.
The marginal propensity to consume from a permanent
parallel upward shift in the production function is smaller than
the marginal propensity to consume from a temporary parallel upward
shift in the production function.
- FALSE
Reason : The marginal propensity to consume will be close
to one when there is a permanent parallel upward shift in the
production function because people will be able to consume more at
the given level of income. The permanent increase in production
function will increase output in the economy which in turn will
increase the long term average of incomes and thus, the marginal
propensity to consume will be large. Whereas, in case of a
temporary shift in the production function, the marginal propensity
to consume will increase by a smaller proportion because there is
an increase in current income level only and if individuals get
used to the higher consumption, they would want to continue their
consumption in the future as well and in order to keep up with the
increase in consumption, they would have to increase their savings
as well which won't be possible if the income change is temporary
and hence, the MPC will be small. Thereby, we can conclude by
saying that the marginal propensity to consume from a permanent
parallel upward shift in the production function will be
greater than the marginal propensity to consume from a
temporary shift in the production function.