Consumption expenditure on durables in Barbados 1960–82

In recent times there have been constant efforts to control the level of consumer spending on durables in Barbados. The main reason for this was to direct the scarce foreign exchange earnings into the ‘productive’ sectors. This paper presents a model of consumer expenditure on durables in Barbados. In the model relative prices, income, hire-purchase terms, credit and the ratio of durable consumption to income have significant effects on expenditure on durables. This leads us to accept that both fiscal and monetary policy play a serious role in such expenditure.