A Note on Don Patinkin’s Misspecification of Keynes’ Consumption Function and Misinterpretation of Keynes’ Elasticity Analysis in Chapter 10 of the General Theory

This note examines the claim of Don Patinkin that he had found a mathematical error in Keynes’ elasticity analysis contained in a footnote on page 126 of Chapter 10 of The General Theory. A reexamination of the footnote demonstrates that no error is present with respect to the model of the consumption function specified by Keynes in the General Theory. Don Patinkin failed to consider that the linear model used to demonstrate Keynes’ multiplier result was distinct from the complete Theory of the consumption function, which included the probability of a non-linear relationship.