Estimating consumer demand in Korea

In this paper, time series annual data on five consumer goods for Korea are analyzed using the neoclassical model of consumer behavior. The approach taken is the indirect utility function and employs a translog form. Various restrictive specifications of consumer preferences with respect to homotheticity and separability are examined and rejected by the likelihood ratio test. Income and price elasticities are estimated, which appear to be generally high relative to those of developed countries. Growth in real income is primarily responsible for changes in commodity demand. Marginal utilities of income and associated income elasticities are calculated, which are consistent with normal expectations.     

Economic determinants of the consumption of alcoholic beverages in Canada: a panel data analysis

In this article, the economic determinants of the demand for three alcoholic beverages (wine, spirits, and beer) are investigated with a focus on the price, income and unemployment effects. The investigation is conducted within the fixed effects panel regression framework using a balanced panel for ten Canadian provinces spanning the years 1981–2004. The estimated own price elasticities indicate that increased government taxation is an effective tool for curtailing the consumption of spirits (at the expense of lower government tax revenue), but it is less effective for curtailing the consumption of wine or beer. The cross-price elasticity estimates reveal that taxing beer or spirits may not be an effective tool for encouraging consumption switch from these alcoholic beverages to wine in light of wine’s greater health benefits. Income emerges as an important determinant of the consumption of both wine and spirits but not of beer, whereas unemployment emerges as an important determinant of the consumption of beer but not of wine or spirits. With respect to unemployment, we find no support for the addiction hypothesis in the case of wine and spirits and strong support for the severe budget constraint hypothesis in the case of beer.     

Time inconsistency and alcohol sales restrictions

Restrictions on alcohol sales hours or days are commonly used tools in order to reduce alcohol consumption. However, a forward-looking consumer can buy in advance, and thereby mostly undo the impact of the restriction. I study whether time inconsistent consumer preferences can provide a justification for restrictions on alcohol sales time. I estimate a demand model, which allows a fraction of consumers to be time inconsistent, using scanner data of beer purchases and other shopping behavior. According to the estimation results, 16% of regular beer buyers, or only 3% of all consumers, behave as if they are time inconsistent. I find that in terms of consumer welfare, the sales restriction may be welfare improving, but is worse than increasing taxes.     

CREDIT CONSTRAINTS IN THE MARKET FOR CONSUMER DURABLES: EVIDENCE FROM MICRO DATA ON CAR LOANS*

We investigate the significance of borrowing constraints in the market for consumer loans. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey on auto loan contracts we estimate the elasticities of loan demand with respect to interest rate and maturity. We find that, with the exception of high income households, consumers are very responsive to maturity and less responsive to interest rate changes. Both elasticities vary with household income, with the maturity elasticity decreasing and the interest rate elasticity increasing with income. We argue that these results are consistent with the presence of binding credit constraints in the auto loan market.     

Seasonal U.S. beer demand: socio-economic determinants and relation with other products

This article employs quarterly U.S. state-level data from 2009 to 2015 to estimate the demand for beer. Other contributions of this work involve the incorporation of demographic factors and wine prices. Results show beer demand to be inelastic, and beer and wine to be substitutes. Further, males, whites, and blacks were, ceteris paribus, likely to have greater beer demand. The income effects, however, were mixed, showing some support for beer being a normal good.     

An Econometric Study of the Demand for Bottled,Canned and Bulk Beer*

This paper uses the absolute price version of the differential demand model to examine substitution possibilities for the consumption of beer in different containers in the period 1968–69 to 1983–84. The results indicate that the effect of beer packaging in beer consumption is significant. The same beer in different containers can be treated as quite different products The conditional substitution between bottled beer and canned beer is the highest among the beers. However, due to a strong ‘income effect’, the unconditional substitution between them is lower than that between bottled beer and bulk beer.     

Determinants of vacation travel among Israeli seniors: theory and evidence

This study investigates determinants of vacation travel among seniors. A consumer choice model is developed that incorporates effects of retirement and health on available leisure time, and effects of age and education on disposable income. The empirical implications of the model depend on leisure and income patterns, that in turn determine if time and budget constraints are binding. The model is illustrated using data collected from Israeli seniors. Results confirm theoretical predictions regarding the changing effectiveness of constraints as seniors grow older.     

A censored system of cigarette and alcohol consumption

Many previous studies of US cigarette and alcohol consumption have focused on single equations. However, the addictive nature of consumption suggests that it is more appropriate to model these products as a system. We propose a two-step estimation procedure and apply the procedure to a system of equations for cigarette, beer and wine consumption. Results differ from those derived from an existing two-step procedure. Findings suggest that consumption of cigarettes, beer and wine is responsive to income changes but the elasticities are rather small. Personal physiques, education, age, race, ethnicity, health, gender, employment status, and regions also play significant roles in consumption.     

The money-age distribution: Empirical facts and the limits of three monetary models

The money-age distribution is hump-shaped for the US post-war economy. There is no clear-cut relation between the variation of money holdings within generations and age. Furthermore, money is found to be only weakly correlated with both income and wealth. We analyze three motives for money demand in an overlapping generations setup in order to explain these observations: (1) money-in-the-utility, (2) an economy with costly credit service, and (3) limited-participation. All three models are consistent with the hump-shaped relation between average money holdings and age, yet they predict a much closer association between money holdings, income, wealth, and age than we find in the data. Only the limited-participation model partly replicates the low bivariate correlation between money and income as well as between money and interest-bearing assets. None of the three models satisfactorily explains these stylized facts.     

Consumer Capital as the Source of Happiness: The Missing Economic Theory Underlying the Income-Happiness Paradox

Self-reported happiness does not generally increase with rising income, as established by Richard Easterlin. We argue that the current debate in economics about the income-happiness paradox has paid too little attention to the theoretical foundation of the expected positive relation between income and happiness, seeking an empirical resolution through better data and more elaborate estimating equations instead. We return to the history of economics and revisit the contributions of Irving Fisher and Kenneth Boulding for the missing economic theory that underlies the income-happiness paradox. According to both Fisher and Boulding, “consumer capital” is the ultimate source of welfare, whereby consumer capital is defined as an accumulated stock of tangible and intangible instruments that yield a stream of services over their useful life. In the view of Fisher and Boulding, it is the utilization of this capital stock that renders happiness to individuals. Moreover, income that pays for the goods of consumption can be a “bad,” reflecting the cost of maintaining the consumer capital stock. Therefore, Fisher and Boulding’s insights bring a new perspective to the Easterlin paradox, showing that the empirical finding that rising income contributes only little, if anything, to levels of happiness has been overemphasized at the expense of the theoretically more relevant relation between consumer capital and happiness, and the exact role of income therein.     

消费者对可追溯牛肉的认知及其影响因素分析——基于结构方程模型

利用针对北京市城区消费者的402份调查问卷数据,运用结构方程模型,分析了消费者对可追溯牛肉的认知及其影响因素。结果显示,消费者对可追溯牛肉的认知水平较低,但消费者在信息强化后对可追溯牛肉安全性的评价较高;信息搜集和经济文化因素显著影响消费者对可追溯牛肉的认知水平,风险感知、牛肉重要性和经济文化因素显著影响消费者对可追溯牛肉的认知内容,但认知水平并不显著影响认知内容。最后提出相关对策建议。     

Social welfare and the unrepresentative representative consumer

If, for all prices, income distribution is optimal for a planner with a social welfare function, then aggregate demand is the same as that of a single “representative consumer” whose preferences over aggregate consumption are the same as the planner's. This paper shows that the converse is false. Aggregate demand may be the demand function of a representative consumer although the income distribution is not optimal for any social welfare function. The representative consumer may be Pareto inconsistent, preferring situation A to B when all the actual consumers prefer B to A. We give conditions under which existence of a representative consumer implies that the income distribution satisfies first order conditions for optimality. Satisfying the first order optimality conditions for an additively separable social welfare function is essentially equivalent to aggregate demand for every pair of consumers having a symmetric Slutsky matrix.     

ESTIMATING SPATIAL CONSUMER PRICE INDICES THROUGH ENGEL CURVE ANALYSIS

In this paper we propose a method of estimating spatial multilateral price index numbers from cross‐section consumer expenditure data on different items using Engel curve analysis. The novelty of the procedure is that it overcomes the problem of data inadequacy, a problem that is shared by most of the developing countries. The procedure does not require item‐specific price/unit value data and price index numbers can be calculated from consumer expenditure data grouped by per capita income/total consumer expenditure class in a situation where unit level data are not available. To illustrate the method, we use published state‐specific data of the 50th round (1993–94) and 55th round (1999–2000) consumer expenditure surveys of India's National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) and calculate the spatial consumer price index numbers for 15 major states of India, with All‐India taken as base, separately for the rural and the urban sector for each round.     

Broke,Ill, and Obese: Is There an Effect of Household Debt on Health?

We analyze the association between household indebtedness and different health outcomes using data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel from 1999 to 2009. We control for unobserved heterogeneity by applying fixed‐effects methods and furthermore use a subsample of constantly employed individuals plus lagged debt variables to reduce problems of reverse causality. We apply different measures of household indebtedness, such as the percentage shares of household income spent on consumer credit and home loan repayments (which indicate the severity of household indebtedness) and a binary variable of relative overindebtedness (which indicates a precarious debt situation). We find all debt measures to be strongly correlated with health satisfaction, mental health, and obesity. This relationship vanishes for obesity after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity while it stays significant with respect to worse physical and mental health.     

主题餐厅消费意愿及其影响因素研究——基于重庆市572位顾客的调查数据

主题餐厅的活力和利润来源于忠诚的顾客,而影响忠诚顾客的关键因素在于消费意愿。该文从体验消费视角,在清楚界定主题餐厅概念的基础上。选取顾客是否愿意到主题餐厅消费的意愿作为被解释变量,主题餐厅消费主题、消费产品、消费感知物有所值和顾客生活形态特征作为解释变量,构建kgistic二元选择模型,依据对重庆市572位顾客的调查,对其到主题餐厅消费的意愿及影响因素进行分析。研究表明：顾客对主题特色、菜品特色的好奇心,对菜品质量、菜单设计、服务水平、消费成本的合理预期的认可,家庭收入与顾客到主题餐厅消费的意愿选择正相关。顾客对主题餐厅消费信息的了解程度、消费经验与到主题餐厅消费的意愿负相关。菜品品种、接待能力、年龄及受教育程度与是否愿意到主题餐厅消费意愿无显著相关。     

What makes you grab low carb beers?

What makes people choose low-carbohydrate, high-protein food (low-carb food), which is good for health but usually tastes bad? Using panel data on US beer consumption in which each consumption occasion is uniquely associated with various companion-based consumption contexts and exposure levels to diet information, we analyse the variations in consumers’ preferences for low-carb food. The results show that there exist considerable gender differences in the preference variation under peer pressure. First, single females behave in a way they dislike drinking low-carb beer in front of friends, spouses and significant others. Second, male (both married and single) and married females pretend to choose low-carb beer when accompanied by spouses or significant others. Finally, the elasticity of demand for healthy food with respect to news articles about low-carb diets is positive, yet with substantial differences in the degree of elasticity across demographic groups.     

Economic and demographic factors in Australian alcohol demand

In the last two decades, total (pure) alcohol consumption in Australia has declined by about 31% and currently it is at the same level as it was in the 1950s. Australians consumed about 10 litres of pure alcohol per person in 1982 and now the level has declined to about 7 litres of pure alcohol per person. During the last four decades, per capita beer consumption has reached a peak of 140 litres in 1975 and has fallen to a low 93 litres in 1999; wine consumption has increased four-fold while spirits consumption has stayed around the same level. This paper, using the Australian consumption data for beer, wine and spirits for the period 1956–1999, aims to explain the change in consumption patterns of beer, wine and spirits by considering the effects due to changes in economic and demographic factors. The results show that while income and prices significantly influence the consumption patterns of alcohol, the increasing Australian elderly population also plays an important role.     

社会公平、财政支农与农村消费需求

长期以来居民收入被认为是影响消费行为的最直接因素,但在中国这样一个转型国家中,体制性因素及政府行为往往会极大的影响居民消费行为。因此,针对当前存在的农村消费水平长期偏低问题,本文着重关注了经济体制进程中的社会不公平因素和政府财政支农行为对农村消费需求的影响,通过对中国省级面板数据的研究发现,以城乡收入差距为主要特征的社会不公平明显抑制了农村消费水平的提高,财政支农政策与行为很大程度上增进了农村消费水平。     

消费者对地理标志农产品支付意愿的实证分析——以盐池滩羊为例

以农产品主销区消费者调查问卷为依据,分析了影响因素对消费者地理标志农产品支付意愿的实际影响。结果表明:消费者对农产品地理标志了解和认知程度仍处初级阶段;受教育程度正向影响购买意愿,反向影响溢价支付意愿;对农产品注册为地理标志了解程度、对农产品口感味道评价正向影响购买意愿和支付意愿;非穆斯林、已婚、羊肉占肉类消费比重正向影响购买意愿,而家庭收入水平、无羊肉忌口、无超市购物去处等则正向影响溢价支付意愿;但性别、年龄、农产品品牌了解程度、地理标志了解程度等均未显著影响消费者支付意愿。     

中国个人所得税的性质及其效果分析

以工资薪金税收为主体的个人所得税是一种消费者税。由于起征额的存在,个人所得税并不是一种完全的所得税,而是一种个人收入调节税。基于消费者税的理论基础,提出了关于中国代表性居民纳税人的理论平均税负的一个简单模型,以及一个关于中国个人所得税对全部税收的贡献率的理论计算公式。中国个人所得税改革应着眼于如何改善工薪所得税的累进性,增强税收的收入再分配职能,相对提高低收入劳动者的实际报酬。为此,应将个人所得税易名为个人收入调节税,减少税率档次,提高免征额。