Abstract: Based on the Keynesian consumption theory and employing the three indicators of Gini coefficient, the marginal propensity to consume and the average propensity to consume, this paper establishes a linear regression model to analyze the relation between income distribution and residents’ consumption at the current national level. The results of the empirical study show that the enlarging gap of income distribution reduces the residents’ average propensity to consume and marginal propensity to consume. It is necessary to increase the residents’ consuming intention on the basis of increasing residents’ income, and to narrow the income distribution gap between residents and improve the demand, so as to gradually eliminate the problem of consumption stagnation.

Key words: income distribution gap; average propensity to consume; Gini coefficient; marginal propensity to consume