Question

If the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is 0.75, and if the goal is to increase real GDP by $400 million, then by how much would government spending have to change to generate this increase in real GDP? Group of answer choices

Answer 1

Government spending would have to change by $1.6 billion

Step-by-step explanation:

The marginal propensity to consume (MPC) refers to the proportion of an increase in aggregate income that is spent on consumption of commodities by a consumer.

Since from the question, we have:

MPC = Marginal propensity to consume = 0.75

The MPC can therefore be used to calculate the fiscal multiplier which measures the effect of government spending on real GDP as follows:

Fiscal multiplier = 1 / (1 - MPC) = 1 / (1 - 0.75) = 1 / 0.25 = 4.0

Therefore, we have:

Change in government spending = Fiscal multiplier * Amount of targeted increase real GDP = 4.0 * $400 million = $1.6 billion

Therefore, government spending would have to change by $1.6 billion to generate $400 million increase in real GDP.