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Expenditure Patterns and Aggregate Consumer Behaviour: Some Experiments with Australian and New Zealand Data *
Author(s) -
CHATTERJEE SRIKANTA,
MICHELINI CLAUDIO,
RAY RANJAN
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
economic record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1475-4932
pISSN - 0013-0249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4932.1994.tb01848.x
Subject(s) - engel curve , economics , equivalence (formal languages) , aggregate (composite) , econometrics , welfare , consumer expenditure , aggregate expenditure , separable space , consumer expenditure survey , almost ideal demand system , test (biology) , aggregate data , exploit , microeconomics , public economics , mathematics , statistics , computer science , production (economics) , ecology , market economy , mathematical analysis , materials science , discrete mathematics , composite material , biology , computer security
This paper analyzes expenditure patterns in Australia and New Zealand by estimating ‘complete’ demand systems on budget data. Tests of linear Engel curves and separable preferences are carried out on both data sets. The study also exploits the information on household composition to test for demographic effects. Several new demographic ally extended demand functional forms are proposed and estimated, and their behavioural and welfare implications in terms of equivalence scales compared. The study yields plausible estimates of price and expenditure elasticities, and shows that relevant price information can be used successfully to estimate the ‘cost’ of a child.