Consumer spending in the context of "Real gross domestic product"

Below is a list of the largest consumer markets of the world, according to data from the World Bank. The countries are sorted by their household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) which represents consumer spending. Values are in nominal terms in United States dollar and adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) in constant 2021 international dollar in nominal terms. A large (and especially larger than the whole economy (100% GDP)) percentage typically indicates the existence of an informal economy, at least in terms of income.

In economics, aggregate demand (AD) or domestic final demand (DFD) is the total demand for final goods and services in an economy at a given time. It is often called effective demand, though at other times this term is distinguished. This is the demand for the gross domestic product of a country. It specifies the amount of goods and services that will be purchased at all possible price levels. Consumer spending, investment, corporate and government expenditure, and net exports make up the aggregate demand.

The aggregate demand curve is plotted with real output on the horizontal axis and the price level on the vertical axis. While it is theorized to be downward sloping, the Sonnenschein–Mantel–Debreu results show that the slope of the curve cannot be mathematically derived from assumptions about individual rational behavior. Instead, the downward sloping aggregate demand curve is derived with the help of three macroeconomic assumptions about the functioning of markets: Pigou's wealth effect, Keynes' interest rate effect and the Mundell–Fleming exchange-rate effect. The Pigou effect states that a higher price level implies lower real wealth and therefore lower consumption spending, giving a lower quantity of goods demanded in the aggregate. The Keynes effect states that a higher price level implies a lower real money supply and therefore higher interest rates resulting from relevant market equilibrium condition, in turn resulting in lower investment spending on new physical capital and hence a lower quantity of goods being demanded in the aggregate.

Household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) is a transaction of the national account's use of income account representing consumer spending. It consists of the expenditure incurred by resident households on individual consumption goods and services, including those sold at prices that are not economically significant. It also includes various kinds of imputed expenditure of which the imputed rent for services of owner-occupied housing (imputed rents) is generally the most important one. The household sector covers not only those living in traditional households, but also those people living in communal establishments, such as retirement homes, boarding houses and prisons.

The above given definition of HFCE includes expenditure by resident households on the domestic territory and expenditure by resident households abroad (outbound tourists), but excludes any non-resident households' expenditure on the domestic territory (inbound tourists). From this national definition of consumption expenditure may be distinguished the household final consumption expenditure according to the domestic concept which includes household expenditure made on the domestic territory by residents and inbound tourists, but excludes residents' expenditure made abroad.

Demand-side economics is a term used to describe the position that economic growth and full employment are most effectively created by high demand for products and services. According to demand-side economics, output is determined by effective demand. High consumer spending leads to business expansion, resulting in greater employment opportunities. Higher levels of employment create a multiplier effect that further stimulates aggregate demand, leading to greater economic growth.

Proponents of demand-side economics argue that tax breaks for the wealthy produce little, if any, economic benefit because most of the additional money is not spent on goods or services but is reinvested in an economy with low demand (which makes speculative bubbles likely). Instead, they argue increased governmental spending will help to grow the economy by spurring additional employment opportunities. They cite the lessons of the Great Depression of the 1930s as evidence that increased governmental spending spurs growth.

In economics, the fiscal multiplier (not to be confused with the money multiplier) is the ratio of change in national income or revenue arising from a change in government spending. More generally, the exogenous spending multiplier is the ratio of change in national income arising from any autonomous change in spending (including private investment spending, consumer spending, government spending, or spending by foreigners on the country's exports). When this multiplier exceeds one, the enhanced effect on national income may be called the multiplier effect. The mechanism that can give rise to a multiplier effect is that an initial incremental amount of spending can lead to increased income and hence increased consumption spending, increasing income further and hence further increasing consumption, etc., resulting in an overall increase in national income greater than the initial incremental amount of spending. In other words, an initial change in aggregate demand may cause a change in aggregate output (and hence the aggregate income that it generates) that is a multiple of the initial change.

The existence of a multiplier effect was initially proposed by Keynes' student Richard Kahn in 1930 and published in 1931. The multiplier theory was developed to provide rigorous justification for public works spending. Lloyd George, the Liberal candidate in his 1929 election pledge had proposed a public works scheme to reduce unemployment. Keynes and Hubert Henderson wrote a pamphlet titled “Can Lloyd George Do It?: An Examination of the Liberal Pledge” backing his proposal. Richard Kahn's calculations were meant to show that much of the Treasury’s expenditure would be recouped through higher taxes and less spending on unemployment insurance.

The speculative or asset demand for money is the demand for highly liquid financial assets — domestic money or foreign currency — that is not dictated by real transactions such as trade or consumption expenditure. Speculative demand arises from the perception that money is optimally part of a portfolio of assets being held as investments.