Usually, when we consider the information that is given in a household budget survey, we do so in terms of expenditures for different goods and services and how these relate to income, prices, and socio demographic factors such as age, family size, and education. Allocation of expenditures amongst different categories of consumption is seen as being determined by tastes and preferences acting in conjunction with a constraint imposed by prices and income. The parameters thus obtained are obviously useful in analyzing the impact on consumption resulting from changes in income and prices (should the latter be available), but income and price elasticities, in themselves, say little about the internal structure of consumption spending. How expenditures for housing, transportation, and personal care to pick three standard categories of consumption spending - are related to expenditures for food, for example, has never been a direct focus of empirical study. This book focuses on these relationships and provides insight into consumer behavior that complements and goes beyond that given by conventional price and income elasticities, making it of interest to students as well as economists in both government and academia concerned with consumer behavior.

A classic treatise that defined the field of applied demand analysis, Consumer Demand in the United States: Prices, Income, and Consumption Behavior is now fully updated and expanded for a new generation. Consumption expenditures by households in the United States account for about 70% of America's GDP. The primary focus in this book is on how households adjust these expenditures in response to changes in price and income. Econometric estimates of price and income elasticities are obtained for an exhaustive array of goods and services using data from surveys conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and aggregate consumption expenditures from the National Income and Product Accounts, providing a better understanding of consumer demand. Practical models for forecasting future price and income elasticities are also demonstrated. Fully revised with over a dozen new chapters and appendices, the book revisits the original Houthakker-Taylor models while examining new material as well, such as the use of quantile regression and the stationarity of consumer preference. It also explores the emerging connection between neuroscience and consumer behavior, integrating the economic literature on demand theory with psychology literature. The most comprehensive treatment of the topic to date, this volume will be an essential resource for any researcher, student or professional economist working on consumer behavior or demand theory, as well as investors and policymakers concerned with the impact of economic fluctuations.

Capital, Accumulation, and Money: An Integration of Capital, Growth, and Monetary Theory is a book about capital and money. A root concept of capital is formulated that allows for most existing concepts of capital to be unified and related to one another in consistent fashion. Capital and monetary theory are integrated in a non-mathematical framework that imposes a number of constraints on the macro behavior of an economy, constraints which make for the straightforward understanding of such concepts as the real stock of money, real-balance effects, and the general price level. New and illuminating insights are also provided into aggregate supply and demand, natural and money rates of interest, the relationship between real and monetary economies, and economic growth and development. This fully expanded, revised, and updated edition features important new material on a variety of timely topics, including: * Factors leading to the financial meltdown and turmoil of 2007-09; * Why bubbles form in asset markets and how these impact on the real economy; * The importance of a lender-of-last-resort in times of financial stress; * Future financing and funding of the U. S. Social Security System. Additionally, the author offers a number of ideas for alleviating the severity, if not the avoidance altogether, of financial crises in the future. This is a book for those -- students (both graduate and undergraduate) and their teachers, investors, and the informed public -- who want an understanding of how economies and financial markets function, without an advanced degree in mathematics.

Capital, Accumulation, and Money: An Integration of Capital, Growth, and Monetary Theory is a book about capital and money. A root concept of capital is formulated that allows for most existing concepts of capital to be unified and related to one another in consistent fashion. Capital and monetary theory are integrated in a non-mathematical framework that imposes a number of constraints on the macro behavior of an economy, constraints which make for the straightforward understanding of such concepts as the real stock of money, real-balance effects, and the general price level. New and illuminating insights are also provided into aggregate supply and demand, natural and money rates of interest, the relationship between real and monetary economies, and economic growth and development. This fully expanded, revised, and updated edition features important new material on a variety of timely topics, including: * Factors leading to the financial meltdown and turmoil of 2007-09; * Why bubbles form in asset markets and how these impact on the real economy; * The importance of a lender-of-last-resort in times of financial stress; * Future financing and funding of the U. S. Social Security System. Additionally, the author offers a number of ideas for alleviating the severity, if not the avoidance altogether, of financial crises in the future. This is a book for those -- students (both graduate and undergraduate) and their teachers, investors, and the informed public -- who want an understanding of how economies and financial markets function, without an advanced degree in mathematics.

Usually, when we consider the information that is given in a household budget survey, we do so in terms of expenditures for different goods and services and how these relate to income, prices, and socio demographic factors such as age, family size, and education. Allocation of expenditures amongst different categories of consumption is seen as being determined by tastes and preferences acting in conjunction with a constraint imposed by prices and income. The parameters thus obtained are obviously useful in analyzing the impact on consumption resulting from changes in income and prices (should the latter be available), but income and price elasticities, in themselves, say little about the internal structure of consumption spending. How expenditures for housing, transportation, and personal care to pick three standard categories of consumption spending - are related to expenditures for food, for example, has never been a direct focus of empirical study. This book focuses on these relationships and provides insight into consumer behavior that complements and goes beyond that given by conventional price and income elasticities, making it of interest to students as well as economists in both government and academia concerned with consumer behavior.

A classic treatise that defined the field of applied demand analysis, Consumer Demand in the United States: Prices, Income, and Consumption Behavior is now fully updated and expanded for a new generation. Consumption expenditures by households in the United States account for about 70% of America's GDP. The primary focus in this book is on how households adjust these expenditures in response to changes in price and income. Econometric estimates of price and income elasticities are obtained for an exhaustive array of goods and services using data from surveys conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and aggregate consumption expenditures from the National Income and Product Accounts, providing a better understanding of consumer demand. Practical models for forecasting future price and income elasticities are also demonstrated. Fully revised with over a dozen new chapters and appendices, the book revisits the original Houthakker-Taylor models while examining new material as well, such as the use of quantile regression and the stationarity of consumer preference. It also explores the emerging connection between neuroscience and consumer behavior, integrating the economic literature on demand theory with psychology literature. The most comprehensive treatment of the topic to date, this volume will be an essential resource for any researcher, student or professional economist working on consumer behavior or demand theory, as well as investors and policymakers concerned with the impact of economic fluctuations.