The independence of finance from saving: A flow-of-funds interpretation

Keynes's proposition that consumption-and-saving decisions on the part of the public exert no direct influence on the conditions of finance faced by investors contrasts with the loanable funds theory claim that a public's shift from consumption to saving with the purpose of purchasing securities generates an excess supply of funds that eases conditions in the capital market. This paper provides a simple kind of flow-of-funds model where the flow of savings on the part of households, even when it is entirely directed to the purchase of securities, is not a net component of the supply of funds in the capital market. Thus, Keynes's proposition about the independence of finance from saving does not require the assumption of a hidden increase in liquidity preference. Rather, it is based upon a specific conception of the finance process in a monetary economy.