Economic Definition of autonomous expenditure. Defined.
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Term autonomous expenditure Definition: An aggregate expenditure (you know them as consumption, investment, government purchases, and net exports) that is unrelated to national income or gross domestic product. These four aggregate expenditures are conveniently separated into two types, autonomous, which is our current topic of expenditures unrelated to national income or GDP, and induced expenditures, expenditures which ARE related to national income or GDP. Autonomous expenditures cause shocks in the macroeconomy, which result in changes in income and production. These income/production changes then "induce" further changes in aggregate expenditures, our induced expenditures.
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