Consumption Economics

In The Economics of Consumption, Tullio Jappelli and Luigi Pistaferri provide a comprehensive examination of the most important developments in the field of consumption decisions and evaluate economic models against empirical evidence.

Consumption Economics will help you re-imagine how to profitably build, sell, and deliver products in the age of the cloud.

An overview of the saving and consumption patterns of households

First reference on food consumption and policy.

This thought-provoking and influential book by a distinguished economist examines whether consumption behavior can be defined in a way that's supported by empirical evidence and useful for research and planning.

What is the exact nature of the consumption function? Can this term be defined so that it will be consistent with empirical evidence and a valid instrument in the hands of future economic researchers and policy makers? In this volume a distinguished American economist presents a new theory of the consumption function, tests it against extensive statistical J material and suggests some of its significant implications. Central to the new theory is its sharp distinction between two concepts of income, measured income, or that which is recorded for a particular period, and permanent income, a longer-period concept in terms of which consumers decide how much to spend and how much to save. Milton Friedman suggests that the total amount spent on consumption is on the average the same fraction of permanent income, regardless of the size of permanent income. The magnitude of the fraction depends on variables such as interest rate, degree of uncertainty relating to occupation, ratio of wealth to income, family size, and so on. The hypothesis is shown to be consistent with budget studies and time series data, and some of its far-reaching implications are explored in the final chapter.

This book extends research in consumption economics by identifying similarities and differences in consumption patterns in a large number of countries, both developed and less developed. Its approach is to carefully analyze a large body of data from a highly diverse group of countries to determine the extent to which a simple economic framework can be used to understand and explain consumer behavior. It uses data from more than 40 countries which range from the most affluent to the poorest in the world. The book pays particular attention to the consumption of food and to new simulation techniques applied to systems of demand equations.

Consumption has become one of the leading topics across the social sciences and vocational disciplines such as marketing and business studies. In this comprehensively updated and revised new edition, traditional approaches as well as the most recent literature are fully addressed and incorporated, with wide reference to theoretical and empirical work. Fine's refreshing and authoritative text includes a critical examination of such themes as: * economics imperialism and globalization * the world of commodities * systems of provision and culture * the consumer society * public consumption. This book presents an updated analysis of the cluttered landscape of studies of consumption that will make it required reading for students from a wide range of backgrounds including political economy, history and social science courses generally.