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Children as consumers: investigating child diary expenditure data

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  • Lisa Farrell
  • Michael A. Shields

Abstract

We investigate expenditure behaviour of school-aged children using child diary information contained in the British Family Expenditure Survey. The estimates from an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) for child expenditure suggest that drinks, sweets, books, and toys are `normal' goods for children, but clothes, travel, leisure and vice products are `luxury' items with income elasticities greater than one. Being a lone-parent child and having a working mother are important factors in determining child expenditure decisions. Importantly, a higher parental budget share on any given commodity is typically associated with an increased child budget share on the same commodity.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Farrell & Michael A. Shields, 2007. "Children as consumers: investigating child diary expenditure data," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(2), pages 445-467, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:40:y:2007:i:2:p:445-467
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    Cited by:

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    2. Sabrina Bruyneel & Laurens Cherchye & Sam Cosaert & Bram De Rock & Siegfried Dewitte, 2012. "Are the Smart Kids More Rational ?," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2012-050, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. De Agostini, Paola, 2014. "The effect of food prices and household income on the British diet," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-10, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. David W. Johnston & Stefanie Schurer & Michael A. Shields, 2014. "Maternal gender role attitudes, human capital investment, and labour supply of sons and daughters," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 66(3), pages 631-659.
    5. Tashara M. Leak & Felicia Setiono & Navika Gangrade & Erika Mudrak, 2019. "Youth Willingness to Purchase Whole Grain Snack Packs from New York City Corner Stores Participating in a Healthy Retail Program," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-12, September.
    6. Cash, Sean B. & McAlister, Anna R., 2017. "Young Food Consumers: How do Children Respond to Point-of-Purchase Interventions?," 2017 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 6-8, 2017, Chicago, Illinois 252700, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Hartmann, Monika & Cash, Sean B. & Yeh, Ching-Hua & Landwehr, Stefanie C. & McAlister, Anna R., 2016. "Children’s purchase behavior in the snack market: Can branding or low price motivate a healthy choice?," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235841, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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