Keynes believes that the income distribution in a country does not change in the short run and hence does not influence the consumption function. If it is unequally distributed it shall remain unequal and vice versa because with a change in the pattern of distribution it would result in the consumption function to shift upwards and downwards. Affluence means that the people are very wealthy. When there is affluence, the consumption function remains stable. Everybody living in the country has everything that is being produced in the world i.e. the main things, e.g. car T.V., V.C.R., etc and hence they would not tend to change their consumption function e.g. U.S.A.

People generally do not change their liquid assets in the short run because it is determined by their financial, position which does not change in the short run. Hence they continue with their consumption standard and do not tend to change it e.g. liquid assets are like bonds, securities and shares etc.

The economy is assumed to be stable in the short run and the Government does not intend to increase the supply of money as this would result in the consumption pattern of the people rising, because with an increase in the supply of money the rate of interest falls and the investment and level of income rise due to which the consumption function would shift upward and vice versa. Keynes says that the people’s expectations remain stable i.e. they do not forecast a rise in the general price level or even speculate an increase in their income level. As such expectations would result in the current consumption pattern to rise and vice versa.

Stock of durable consumer goods of the people does not change in the short period. Those who do not have the consumer goods in the short run will not be able to obtain them due to their constant level of income as explained earlier, whereas those who already possess these goods do not lose them and thus the stock of durable consumer goods remains constant in the short run and hence the, consumption remains stable too. According to Keynes the saving habit of the people does not change in the short run and hence the consumption function, as a complementary to saving function, does not shift upward or downwards.

Keynes says that liquidity preference of the people remains constant in the short run and as a result the consumption pattern would remain stable as well. The higher liquidity preference results in the consumption pattern falling because with higher liquidity preference the people have a higher tendency to save and vice versa. There are two types of taxes i.e. (i) Progressive taxes (ii) Regressive taxes. In the case of progressive taxes the rate of tax increases with the increase in income and in the case of regressive taxes the rate of tax would increase at lower income level. Progressive taxes discourage saving and investment activities and raise the consumption function whereas the regressive taxes pose the opposite problem. Keynes assumes that the tax structure does not change in the short run and hence as a result the consumption function remains stable.

Keynes believes that the rate of interest remains constant in the short run and therefore the consumption function remains stable. With a change in the rate of interest the consumption function would shift e.g. if the rate of interest goes up, the income level would fall and so would the investment level and as a result the consumption function falls. According to Keynes windfall gains and losses occur but whatever changes occur, its level remains constant in the aggregate sense. Thus as a result of inconsistency, the consumption level would rise as a result of windfall gains and vice versa in the case of windfall losses.

Terms and conditions on which the credit is given to the consumers do not change in the short run because with easy terms and conditions pertaining to credit facilities would result in the encouragement of consumption and vice versa if hard terms were imposed. Such factors do not change in the short run. Demographic factors are those which are related to size and composition of population. A change in these factors would influence the consumption function greatly. However, it occurs in the long run e.g. if the size of population increases or the population of non-working classes is high, the consumption function would shift upward and vice versa.

Demand is not deferred and hence the consumption function remains stable. The reason for this is that deferred demand shifts the consumption function either upward or downward e.g. during the war, demand is deferred and consumption function shifts downward and after the war consumption level shifts upward due to rise in demand for consumer goods.