Let’s look at the flow of dollars from the viewpoints of these actors.

Households receive income and use it to pay taxes to the government, to

consume goods and services, and to save through the financial markets.
Firms receive revenue from the sale of the goods and services they
produce and use it to pay for the factors of production. Households and
firms borrow in financial markets to buy investment goods, such as
houses and factories. The government receives revenue from taxes and
uses it to pay for government purchases. Any excess of tax revenue over
government spending is called public saving, which can be either positive
(a budget surplus) or negative (a budget deficit).

In this chapter we develop a basic classical model to explain the economic

interactions depicted in Figure 3-1. We begin with firms and look at what
determines their level of production (and thus the level of national
income). Then we examine how the markets for the factors of production
distribute this income to households. Next, we consider how much of this
income households consume and how much they save. In addition to
discussing the demand for goods and services arising from the
consumption of households, we discuss the demand arising from
investment and government purchases. Finally, we come full circle and
examine how the demand for goods and services (the sum of
consumption, investment, and government purchases) and the supply of
goods and services (the level of production) are brought into balance.