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Empirical analysis of Australian consumption patterns

Author

Listed:
  • Lucille Wong

    (Griffith University)

  • Eliyathamby A. Selvanathan

    (Griffith University)

  • Saroja Selvanathan

    (Griffith University)

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical analysis of Australian private consumption patterns utilising a system-wide approach to analyse how the dominant component, private consumption, is allocated among ten broad groups of consumer goods. Australian consumers, on average, allocate about two-thirds of their income on food, housing, transport and recreation. We considered three demand models, the AIDS, Rotterdam and CBS demand systems, for estimation. The estimated income elasticities reveal that food, alcohol and tobacco, housing and medical care are necessities. All the own-price elasticities are negative and less than one in absolute value (except for recreation), indicating that demand for most goods is price inelastic. In addition, we tested the demand theory hypotheses, homogeneity, Slutsky symmetry and preference independence and found them to be acceptable.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucille Wong & Eliyathamby A. Selvanathan & Saroja Selvanathan, 2017. "Empirical analysis of Australian consumption patterns," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 799-823, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:52:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s00181-016-1095-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-016-1095-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Eliyathamby A. Selvanathan & Saroja Selvanathan & Lucille Wong & Maneka Savithri Jayasinghe, 2021. "Modelling Regional Consumption Patterns in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 97(317), pages 141-156, June.
    2. Mardones, Cristian, 2024. "Improving the estimation of the distributional impacts of carbon pricing and targeted transfers to reduce its regressivity in Latin American countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    3. Rathnayaka, Shashika D. & Selvanathan, Eliyathamby A. & Selvanathan, Saroja, 2022. "Modelling the consumption patterns in the Asian countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 277-296.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Private consumption; Demand models; Information inaccuracy; Elasticities;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection

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