Where does consumption collide?

In macroeconomics, consumption is the total spending by households on final goods and services, and it is the largest component of aggregate demand. The theory of the consumption function relates it to income: Keynes tied current consumption to current income, while the permanent-income hypothesis of Friedman and the life-cycle hypothesis of Modigliani recast it as spending smoothed over expected lifetime resources. The referent is a flow of expenditure in the national accounts, measured in currency per period, not a symbolic cultural practice, a wasting disease, or a machine's use of fuel.[1][2]

Unit

Household expenditure on goods and services, in currency per period

Recovery means

Under permanent-income and life-cycle theory, consumption is smoothed, so it responds little to transitory income shocks and returns to a path set by lifetime resources

Measured by

Estimated in the national accounts as household final consumption expenditure, and modelled through the consumption function

In consumer research and cultural sociology, consumption is a symbolic and cultural practice through which people make meaning and construct identity, not merely the acquisition of utility. Veblen's account of conspicuous consumption showed goods being consumed to display status, and consumer culture theory treats the marketplace as a site where consumers work out who they are through the meanings of what they buy and use. The referent is a socially meaningful practice of consuming, studied for what it signifies, and it is distinct from a national-accounts spending flow, a lung disease, or an engine's fuel use.[3][4]

Unit

An act of consuming read as a bearer of social meaning and identity

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Studied through ethnography, interviews, and interpretive analysis of consumers' practices and the meanings they assign to goods

In physics and engineering, consumption is the rate at which a system draws on energy or fuel to do its work, reported as power, as a fuel consumption rate, or as a specific consumption per unit of output. A building's energy consumption, an engine's fuel consumption, and a device's power draw are all this meaning: a quantity of energy used over time or per task. The referent is a physical rate of energy or fuel use, measured in joules, watts, or litres per unit, and it is unrelated to household spending, symbolic practice, or a wasting disease.[5]

Unit

Energy or fuel used per unit time or output, in joules, watts, or litres

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Metered as energy over time or fuel per distance or output, and benchmarked as intensity per floor area, kilometre, or unit produced