Investment and Economic Activity

14.3 Investment and the Economy

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Explain how investment affects aggregate demand.
2. Explain how investment affects economic growth.

We shall examine the impact of investment on the economy in the context of the model of aggregate demand and aggregate supply. Investment is a component of aggregate demand; changes in investment shift the aggregate demand curve by the amount of the initial change times the multiplier. Investment changes the capital stock; changes in the capital stock shift the production possibilities curve and the economy's aggregate production function and thus shift the long- and short-run aggregate supply curves to the right or to the left.