Economic Multiplier Essay

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8) Explain with the aid of diagrams the economic multiplier. A multiplier is a factor of proportionality that measures how much an endogenous variable changes in response to a change in some exogenous variable. It is the relationship between the change in the injections and the change in the equilibrium level of output. To come to the macro economic multiplier we have to know what the expenditure in the economy is equal to. It is equal to C+I and the households are represented by Y. We can therefore say that Y=E and I=S. This is to show that when the economy is in equilibrium the income is equal to the expenditure and the injections and leakages are equal. To show how the income and expenditure in an economy is equal we use a diagram called a Keynesian 45’ diagram. The graph below shows the Keynesian diagram. On the horizontal line we see that Income (y) is shown and that expenditure is shown on the vertical line. There is also a 45’ line going through the middle of the graph showing where income = expenditure. This line also shows all the possible output for income and expenditure for all the possibilities of equilibrium. Keynesian Diagram Expenditure Income (Y) Keynesian Diagram Expenditure (E) Income (Y) Income (Y) The other line labelled E0=C0+I0 is used to calculate how much the households and firms spend in total. For the economy to be in equilibrium the expenditure line needs to cross the 45’ line otherwise the economy is not in equilibrium. This is because the 45’ degree line is the equilibrium line so if the expenditure line doesn’t cross the line the economy can’t be equilibrium. If firms increase their sales and their investment increases then the increase causes the expenditure

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