Autonomous Investment

Autonomous investments are those considered necessary for the welfare of society and have no relation to income, costs or the amount of labor required.

A good example at the government level is all the programs implemented during the Great Recession that began in 2008 in order to help boost the economy. These included assisting those losing their homes due to foreclosure, providing health benefits for those who lost their jobs and increasing funding for infrastructure projects to boost employment. The government’s tax collections were much lower at the time, but these autonomous investments were deemed necessary. So the government used deficit spending to help bolster the economy.

It stands as an investment because by (theoretically at least) saving the economy from an even deeper decline, the extra spending at the time led to an improved situation over the years to come.