The distribution of households consumption-expenditure budget shares

This paper explores the statistical properties of house-hold consumption-expenditure budget share distributions —defined as the share of household total expenditure spent for purchasing a specific category of commodities— for a large sample of Italian households in the period 1989-2004. We find that household budget share distributions are fairly stable over time for each specific category, but profoundly heterogeneous across commodity categories. We then derive a para-metric density that is able to satisfactorily characterize household budget share distributions and: (i) is consistent with the observed statistical properties of the underlying levels of household consumption-expenditure distributions; (ii) can accommodate the observed across-category heterogeneity in household budget share distributions. Finally, we taxonomize commodity categories according to the estimated parameters of the proposed density. We show that the resulting classification is consistent with the traditional economic scheme that labels commodities as necessary, luxury or inferior. JEL Classification: D3, D12, C12.Budget Shares, Household Consumption Expenditure, Sum of Log-Normal Distributions

Cumulation of Cross-Section Surveys. Evaluation of Alternative Concepts for the Cumulated Continuous Household Budget Surveys (LWR) 1999 until 2003 compared to the Sample Survey of Income and Expenditures (EVS) 2003

With the development of household budget systems and with regard to the requirements of the European Union with new EU-SILC approaches, the cumulation of cross-section surveys to an integrated information system is recently discussed and required. In particular the reconstruction of household budget surveys should deliver yearly results as well multi-annual sufficient large samples to allow in depth analyses. This study contributes by a general conceptual foundation of the cumulation of cross-sections and an application which in particular evaluates the new cumulation concept with actual large official samples: the cross sectional cumulation of five yearly Continuous Household Budget Surveys (Laufende Wirtschaftsrechnungen, LWR) which will be compared to the large quinquennial Sample Survey of Income and Expenditures (Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe, EVS) of the German Federal Statistical Office. Therewith the sensitivity of the cumulation concept with its alternatives is evaluated for private household consumption expenditures of selected expenditure groups. A recommendation concludes.cumulation of cross sections, temporary cumulation, adjustment by information theory, consumption expenditures, Continuous Household Budget Surveys (Laufende Wirtschaftsrechnungen, LWR), Sample Survey of Income and Expenditures (Einkommensund Verbrauchsstichprobe, EVS) of the German Federal Statistical Office

Cumulation of Cross-Section Surveys - Evaluation of Alternative Concepts for the Cumulated Continuous Household Budget Surveys (LWR) 1999 until 2003 compared to the Sample Survey of Income and Expenditures (EVS) 2003

With the development of household budget systems and with regard to the requirements of the European Union with new EU-SILC approaches, the cumulation of cross-section surveys to an integrated information system is recently discussed and required. In particular the reconstruction of household budget surveys should deliver yearly results as well multi-annual sufficient large samples to allow in depth analyses. This study contributes by a general conceptual foundation of the cumulation of cross-sections and an application which in particular evaluates the new cumulation concept with actual large official samples: the cross sectional cumulation of five yearly Continuous Household Budget Surveys (Laufende Wirtschaftsrechnungen, LWR) which will be compared to the large quinquennial Sample Survey of Income and Expenditures (Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe, EVS) of the German Federal Statistical Office. Therewith the sensitivity of the cumulation concept with its alternatives is evaluated for private household consumption expenditures of selected expenditure groups. A recommendation concludes.cumulation of cross sections, temporary cumulation, adjustment by information theory, consumption expenditures, Continuous Household Budget Surveys (Laufende Wirtschaftsrechnungen, LWR), Sample Survey of Income and Expenditures (Einkommensund Verbrauchsstichprobe, EVS) of the German Federal Statistical Office

Cumulation of Cross-Section Surveys: Evaluation of Alternative Concepts for the Cumulated Continuous Household Budget Surveys (LWR) 1999 until 2003 Compared to the Sample Survey of Income and Expenditures (EVS) 2003

With the development of household budget systems and with regard to the requirements of the European Union with new EU-SILC approaches, the cumulation of cross-section surveys to an integrated information system is recently discussed and required. In particular the reconstruction of household budget surveys should deliver yearly results as well multi-annual sufficient large samples to allow in depth analyses. This study contributes by a general conceptual foundation of the cumulation of cross-sections and an application which in particular evaluates the new cumulation concept with actual large official samples: the cross sectional cumulation of five yearly Continuous Household Budget Surveys (Laufende Wirtschaftsrechnungen, LWR) which will be compared to the large quinquennial Sample Survey of Income and Expenditures (Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe, EVS) of the German Federal Statistical Office. Therewith the sensitivity of the cumulation concept with its alternatives is evaluated for private household consumption expenditures of selected expenditure groups. A recommendation concludes.cumulation of cross sections, temporary cumulation, adjustment by information theory, consumption expenditures, Continuous Household Budget Surveys (Laufende Wirtschaftsrechnungen, LWR), Sample Survey of Income and Expenditures (Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe, EVS) of the German Federal Statistical Office

Household behavior and individual autonomy.

The paper proposes a model of household behavior with both private and public consumption where the spouses independently maximize their utilities, but taking into account, together with their own individual budget constraints, the collective household budget constraint with public goods evaluated at Lindahl prices. The Lagrange multipliers associated with these constraints are used to parameterize the set of equilibria, in addition to the usual parameterization by income shares. The proposed game generalizes both the ‘collective’ model of household behavior and the non-cooperative game with voluntary contributions to public goods.Intra-household allocation, household financial management, degree of autonomy, Lindahl prices, local income pooling, separate spheres.

Household Commodity Demand and Demographics in the Netherlands: A Micro-Economic Analysis

We investigate the effects of demographics, household expenditure and female employment on the allocation of household expenditure to consumer goods. For this purpose we estimate an Almost Ideal Demand System based on Dutch micro data. We find that interactions between household expenditure and demographics are of significant importance in explaining the allocation to consumer goods. As a consequence, consumer goods such as housing and clothing change with demographic characteristics from luxuries to necessities. Furthermore, this implies that budget and price-elasticities cannot be consistently estimated from aggregated data and that equivalence scales are not identified from budget survey data alone. We reject weak separability of consumer goods from female employment. A couple with an employed spouse has a smaller budget share for housing and personal care and a larger budget share for education, recreation & transport and clothing compared to a couple with a non-employed spouse.demand systems;consumption;demographics

Characteristics of loyal customers for trade chains in the German food retailing

In this paper customer loyalty will be examined with the help of budget ratios (budget shares). We address the question whether sociodemographic groups differ in their shopping behavior and their store loyalty. Loyalty is analyzed with regard to the ten largest food retail chains in Germany in 2002. It is shown that the loyalty of customers depends on the lifecycle stage of the household and household size for the most part. Older and single households are more loyal than younger families.customer loyalty, food retail chains, store choice, budget ratio., Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Enriching income data with expenditure information: a semi-parametric imputation technique

In this paper we describe a methodology for enriching an income dataset with information on expenditures using a semi-parametric imputation technique. Engel curves are first estimated semi-parametrically on household budget data. We then show how the technique can be used to impute expenditure information into a separate income dataset. As an example we show results from the imputation of expenditures in a separate income file using Belgian household budget data.

Existence of competitive equilibrium in economies with multi-member households

This paper focuses on the existence of a competitive equilibrium in the general equilibrium model with multi-member households introduced by Haller (2000). Two main results are obtained: the first is based on the assumption of ``budget exhaustion,'' which is also used in the existence theorem by Gersbach and Haller (1999). The second is based on the assumption that every household has at least one member whose preference is nonsatiated with respect to feasible household consumption, and this is applicable to the case in which budget exhaustion does not hold.Multi-member households, Competitive equilibrium, nonsatiation

Modelling crediting volume by using the system dynamic method

This paper describes a system dynamic model of credit burden, and it provides an estimation of credit volume. The elaborated model calculates and estimates household budget balance and budget forming flows: income and expenditures, loan and interest payments, increase in budget balance depending on the amount of the granted loan and the costs associated with the purchase of the loan object. The elaborated model can also be applied in analysis of the national economy and in entrepreneurship. The paper presents a method for determining the amount of the loan for purchasing a flat for a household. It also provides modeling results of Latvia’s credit system and conclusions regarding its further development.system dynamic, model, credit burden