# Ricardian equivalence

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. The idea that consumers are forward-looking and so internalize the government's budget constraint when making their consumption decisions, so that, for a given pattern of government spending, the method of financing such spending does not affect agents' consumption decisions, and thus does not change aggregate demand.

## Etymology
Proposed by economist David Ricardo in the early 19th century.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ricardian-equivalence