Secondary household production of food: the influence of home meal preparation on food expenditures and reported adequacy

A path model was tested to ascertain the relationships between certain socio-economic and demographic variables, the percentage of household meals prepared and eaten at home (secondary household production), food expenditures, and the household's reported adequacy of food consumed. Significant positive predictors of secondary household production of food were the age of the head and household size. Negative predictors were education of the head, income of the head(s) and number of hours worked by the household head(s). By far the most important predictor was the number of hours worked. The strongest predictor of food expenditures was household size. Other positive predictors were income of the head(s), number of household heads and the degree of urbanization. Negatively affecting food expenditures was secondary household production of food, indicating the ‘saving’ effect of preparing meals at home. The household's reported adequacy of their food was predicted by the positive effect of education of the head, age of the head, tenure, hours worked by the head(s) and number of household heads. Although the number of hours the heads are employed decreased the percentage of meals prepared at home, and the percentage of meals at home negatively affected expenditures, the number of employment hours had no effect on food expenditures.     

Understanding the role of China's domestic market in the (unequal) growth of world economy

This study investigates the rising role of China's domestic market expansion from 1995 to 2011 in the world economy's growth. China maintained high domestic expenditure growth during the entire period, with even bigger increases in the last years, when the global financial crisis and subsequent economic recovery occurred. The expenditures facilitated rapid growth through high demand for durable goods, which are produced across widely fragmented Asian channels. At the same time, China integrated further into the global economy and imported intermediate goods increasingly became embedded in goods for domestic sale. These two forces combined to magnify the impact of China's market expansion on foreign economies but disproportionately more on its neighbouring countries and sectors related to durable goods production. Specifically, our estimates suggest that the expenditure growth in China over the 2009–11 period added about 1 percentage point to the annual GDP growth rate in Taiwan, Malaysia and Korea, while the NAFTA and EU member countries typically benefited by less than 0.1 percentage point.     

The Impact of Retirement on Household Leisure Expenditures

Household leisure expenditures for retired and near‐retired households were examined in order to better understand the dynamics associated with the move to retirement status. Data from the 1995 Consumer Expenditure Survey indicated that retirement, total expenditures, and education had positive impacts on leisure expenditures. For retired households, greater total expenditures and education increased expenditures, while age and the presence of earned income decreased expenditures. For near‐retired households, greater total expenditures, education, and the presence of asset income significantly increased leisure expenditures.     

Wie beeinflusst der demografische Wandel die privaten Verkehrsausgaben?

The level as well as the structure of private consumption is influenced by the age structure of the population. This is shown for Germany by an age-specific analysis of consumption patterns on the basis of household data of the German consumer income and budget survey. According to the gained data and with respect to the changing shares of age cohorts induced by demographic effects, the demand for consumption goods and services in the field of transport will lose significance. This is especially true for private transport expenditures such as the purchase of cars as well as the demand for goods and services related to the use of cars. In contrast, the expenditures for (public) transport services are projected to be unchanged over the lifecycle of a private household.     

The Influence of Children on Family Life Cycle Spending Behavior: Theory and Applications

This study examines the effect of children on family consumption decisions during different stages of the life cycle. An empirical model that incorporates both continuous measures of adult equivalence and a flexible functional form is used. Results indicate that durables, food eaten (purchased) away from home, and adult clothing are luxury goods for two-child families. Economies of scale are noted for food and shelter expenditures. Two-child families substitute out of expenditures for meals eaten away from home, adult clothing, and other goods and services to meet increased demand due to the children's presence.     

Impact of Married Women's Employment on Individual Household Member Expenditures for Clothing

Family member and per capita clothing expenditures are estimated via tobit, using 1980–1981 Consumer Expenditure Survey data. Occupation categories are developed and implicit wage rates imputed for each wife in the sample. Employed-wife households have higher expenditures for clothing than do nonemployed-wife households and wife's occupation differentially affects family member expenditures. Wife's implicit wage is not significant, while wife's unearned income has a positive impact on all categories of expenditures except for infants. These results indicate that it is not possible to generalize across family members about the influence of income and socio-demographic variables on clothing expenditures.     

Spatial behaviour of rural consumer households in highly developed economies. Survey results for Western Germany

This contribution attempts to identify effects of residential location of rural family households on their economic behaviour. Economic behaviour is understood to be reflected in the total spectrum of income and allocation of household resources. A holistic approach must go beyond activity on the labour and consumer markets and include non-market (‘informal’) activities of household members, taking into account domestic production of goods and services, interaction within social networks, the use of public commercial infrastructure, etc. The cost of living depends, among other things, on patterns of consumption, on regional price levels for consumer breadbaskets, as well as on costs involved in reaching public and commercial points of distribution. These factors result themselves from the interplay of economic forces giving rise to identifiable ‘economic territories’ and ‘market areas’ and ultimately to observable consumptive behaviour and ‘activity spaces’ of individual private households. Since data was available only for our rural survey households, comparative analysis of locational aspects was limited to consumption expenditures for which data could be found in administrative statistics for households in urban and periurban areas. The rural survey sample was found to have a higher average level and a different structure of expenditures when compared with their non-rural counterparts. At the same time, a preliminary effort was made in our own rural survey sample to determine the importance of non-market consumption for rural households. This included household consumption of domestic self-services (‘housework’), the utility value of owner-occupied dwellings, do-it-yourself production of substitutes for commercial goods and services, and exchanges within social networks. Results of this initial investigation of non-market elements of the household economy indicated that they were very important for the household's level-of-living and that they had a potential for compensating inequalities due to different degrees of access to market resources. Household strategies for optimizing their resource allocation to both market and non-market consumption were also examined. In general, ‘objective’ criteria and ‘subjective’ assessments by the survey households with respect to living conditions in rural Western Germany were found to give a positive image of rural life; however, differences in resource allocation strategies for market consumption between urban and rural households having been confirmed above, the question remains for future research about possible locational differences in household acquisition and use of non-market resources.     

Demonstrating distinction at ‘the lowest edge of the black-coated class’: The family expenditures of Edwardian railway clerks

Families at the bottom end of the Edwardian white-collar income spectrum demonstrated middle-class status through observable consumption, at the cost of squeezing other expenditures, including ‘necessities’. This had negative economic impacts, lowering living standards due to inefficiently high budget shares for positional goods. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, we examine how railway clerks sought to demonstrate ‘distinction’ from manual workers through certain conspicuous expenditures and how this strategy was progressively undermined by falling real incomes over the Edwardian period.     

国际贸易乘数与国际金融乘数研究

本文首先在Krugman的国际金融乘数模型的基础上引入产品市场,建立了一个既包含国际贸易乘数效应又包含国际金融乘数效应的两国经济依存模型。在该模型中,各国的资产市场与产品市场通过财富效应和收入效应建立互动关系,两国的资产市场之间通过国际金融乘数效应建立互动关系,两国的产品市场之间通过国际贸易乘数效应建立互动关系。然后本文通过该模型分析了当本国资产市场上出现负向需求冲击时的后果。分析结果显示,本国资产市场上出现的负向需求冲击会直接导致本国资产价格下跌,而本国资产价格下跌一方面通过财富效应导致本国产出下降,另一方面通过国际金融乘数效应引发外国的资产价格下跌,本国产出下降又会通过国际贸易乘数效应导致外国产出下降。     

The environmental burden imposed by the family's activities

Calculations of the environmental burden from a model family's consumption show that family activities associated with eating make up more than one-third of the family's total consumption of resources and discharges to the surroundings. Car transport and residential heating together also account for one-third of the family's resource consumption and discharges to the surroundings. The remaining third of resource consumption and discharges to the environment relates especially to the consumption of goods during leisure activities around the home, clothing, hygiene and health as well as cleaning.     

WIFE'S EMPLOYMENT—ITS INFLUENCE ON MAJOR FAMILY EXPENDITURES

This study was undertaken to examine the influence of wife's employment on major family expenditures. Tobit analysis of data from the 1972–73 Consumer Expenditure Surveys found no relationship between wife's employment and outlays on twelve categories of expenditures. Family income had the greatest overall influence on the expenditure categories examined. Therefore, it appears that the absolute amount of income was more important than its sources in determining expenditures.     

土地成本、规模报酬与产业空间流动

在坚持新经济地理学基本观点的基础上,提出一些新的思想:生产要素成本与贸易自由度的提高会削弱本地市场效应的作用;消费品的替代弹性与工业品支出份额存在相互依赖的关系;虽然人们预期的变化对经济活动存在影响,但不足以逆转区域的内生均衡。随着贸易自由度的提高,企业有能力支付更高的生产要素成本,从而土地成本与产业集聚成正向变动的关系。需求环境与供给环境的改善对于促进中国区域经济统筹发展同等重要。     

Technological convergence,competitiveness, and welfare: A study of international manufacturing industries

In this study, a monopolistic competition model is used to investigate the effects of international technological convergence on factor rewards, output composition, and welfare. Four testable hypotheses on the impact of technological convergence on follower's and leader's competitiveness and welfare are presented. We then use 1993–2001 data from 128 manufacturing industries in 35 countries to test these hypotheses. Results show that followers' relative wages and global value-added shares increase with technological convergence. Followers benefit from convergence's positive income effect. Leader's own technological progress is the key to its welfare improvement, while terms-of-trade effects appear less important.     

The impact of a wife's budgetary and romantic attitudes towards luxury goods on their self-purchases and purchases made for them by their husbands

This paper examines the relationship between a wife's attitudes toward personal luxury goods (i.e., luxury products and services used by her only) and the amount she and her husband spend on such goods for her. Concepts of intrapersonal conflict theory are used to develop a set of hypotheses regarding these relationships. Using diary panel data of diamond jewelry acquisitions for a panel of wives, we model the amount husbands spend on diamond jewelry for their wives, and the amount wives spend on diamond jewelry for themselves, as a function of two latent attitudes of the wives as revealed in the data, specifically romantic attitudes and budgetary attitudes about diamond jewelry. Our results demonstrate the importance of marketers to consider wives' attitudes about personal luxury goods as a means to increase the total expenditures by both spouses on such products.     

Optimal trade,industrial, and privatization policies in a mixed duopoly with strategic managerial incentives

Abstract

This paper examines optimal trade, industrial, and privatization policies in a home-market model of mixed international duopoly with strategic managerial incentives. Under linear demand and constant marginal costs, the optimal degree of privatization is shown to depend crucially on cost and demand parameters and on the availability of strategic trade and industrial policies. If both firms are equally efficient, optimal trade and industrial policies drive out the foreign firm and the privatization policy loses its effect on national welfare; however, if the home firm is less efficient, then full privatization combined with an import tariff and a production subsidy is optimal for the home country, while an export subsidy is optimal for the foreign country. If trade and industrial policies are unavailable and if both firms are equally efficient, full state-ownership, which drives out the foreign firm, becomes optimal; however, if the home firm is less efficient, only partial privatization is optimal, The state-ownership share is increased if either the market size grows, the home firm's efficiency increases, or the foreign firm's efficiency decreases. Further, the paper demonstrates the potential conflict between privatization and trade liberalization policies.     

基于调整和改善国民收入分配格局的政府收支研究

政府收入规模不仅体现了政府的财政能力,而且反映着国民收入分配基本格局及政府在其中的地位。纵观我国20世纪90年代以来,政府财政收入持续快速增长的同时,劳动者收入在国民收入中占比持续下降的事实,要实现"让劳动者分享经济发展成果"的目标,有必要适度控制政府收入规模。政府支出结构反映着政府活动的范围和方向。我国政府职能向公共服务型转变,必然要求政府支出内容上逐步减少经济建设支出,让市场在资源配置方面更好发挥作用;逐步控制和适度削减政府行政性开支,建设一个节俭高效的政府组织;逐步增加民生开支和社会福利开支,不断提高民生福祉。     

Budget Allocation Patterns of U.S. Households across Income Levels in the 21st Century

This study examined the budget allocation patterns of U.S. households during the period 2000–2015. Four household groups—classified based on their income levels in relation to the federal poverty level—are used for the analyses. Data from the quarterly interview component of the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey were used in order to calculate households' annual expenditures in eight commodity groups: food, utilities, apparel and apparel services, transportation, medical care, shelter and household operations, other nondurable expenditures and services, and durable goods. An exact affine stone index (EASI) demand system was used to estimate demand relationships (i.e., price, income elasticities, and marginal effects). Overall, we find that budget allocation, consumers' responses to changes in prices and income, and the effects of sociodemographic characteristics on spending can be markedly different between income groups. The use of a representative or average household for demand analyses can mask substantial differences in economic behaviors between these four income groups.     

Exchange Rate Pass-Through and the Role of Market Shares

This paper examines the effects of changing market shares on exchange rate pass-through to US import prices. Based on a static model of imperfect competition, I predict that a country with a larger share of a host’s import market will have lower pass-through than its competitors. Using highly disaggregated data on US imports, I implement rolling regressions to calculate unique quarterly values of pass-through for specific goods from each exporting country. These values are compared across market shares, indicating a general trend of decreasing pass-through for larger shares. Most specifically, as predicted by the model, the country holding the largest share of the market has significantly lower pass-through than its competitors. The negative relationship between pass-through and market share holds across most categories of goods, most notably the larger categories of imports. Lastly, I show the market share effect is stronger following larger fluctuations in the exchange rate, particularly after large dollar appreciations.     

Trade patterns,unemployment and growth

This paper analyses the implications of a minimum wage in an open economy two-sector model where the effect of growth on trade and unemployment is explicitly determined. The first-best policy is a wage subsidy to all employment while the second-best policy is a production tax cum subsidy. In the absence of policy intervention it is shown that growth in the short run results in decreasing unemployment for the home country if it is specialized in consumption goods or incompletely specialized provided that the minimum wage is binding. If the economy is specialized in investment goods, then unemployment may increase initially but as growth continues the minimum wage no longer remains binding and full employment is restored. In the long run by examining the dynamic interaction between trade and growth it is possible for the economy to be incompletely specialized with unemployment. If the economy specializes in consumption goods, it is possible for the economy to attain full employment.     

Firm-level export duration: The importance of market-specific ownership linkages

This paper explores the impact of a firm's market-specific ownership linkages and trade complementarities on different dimensions of its exporting longevity. Unlike previous studies that were mostly based on country-product-level data, this paper uses transaction-level trade data on the population of firms in Slovenia in the 2002–11 period, matched with detailed origin/direction of inward/outward FDI information to determine a firm's integration in international production networks. Our results indicate that firm's bilateral inward and outward FDI flows with an export-destination country have a strong positive effect on a firm's export survival in that market. Importance of market-specific ownership linkages for export duration is exclusively driven by intermediate goods which suggests prolonged export duration through production network involvement. However, the perseverance effect of bilateral FDI ties on export spells has been weakened during the crisis period. We find pronounced market- and product-related trade complementarities as either exporting or importing experience with the relevant market/product substantially improves the chances of a product–market export spell continuing. Finally, the risk of exports termination is lower for a firm's core export products.