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Willingness to consume and ability to consume

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  • Roos, Michael W.M.

Abstract

George Katona (1960) introduced the distinction between ability to buy and willingness to buy. Ability to buy refers to the objective factors determining actual purchases whereas willingness to buy captures subjective factors such as attitudes or moods. I show that Katona's theory can be reconciled easily with standard models of intertemporal utility maximization if one allows for a time-varying preference parameter that is exogenous to the consumer and determined by the social environment. Such a willingness-to-consume model is tested against standard alternatives using data from seven European countries. The empirical evidence rejects the permanent income hypothesis and supports the willingness-to-consume model.

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  • Roos, Michael W.M., 2008. "Willingness to consume and ability to consume," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 387-402, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:66:y:2008:i:2:p:387-402
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    1. Petar Sorić & Blanka Škrabić Perić & Marina Matošec, 2022. "Breaking new grounds: a fresh insight into the leading properties of business and consumer survey indicators," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4511-4535, December.
    2. Petar Sorić, 2022. "Ability to consume versus willingness to consume: the role of nonlinearities," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 663-689, August.
    3. Giancarlo Bruno, 2014. "Consumer confidence and consumption forecast: a non-parametric approach," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 37-52, February.
    4. Tugrul Gurgur & Zubeyir Kilinc, 2015. "What Drives the Consumer Confidence in Turkey?," CBT Research Notes in Economics 1517, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
    5. Michael W. M. Roos, 2009. "Die deutsche Fiskalpolitik während der Wirtschaftskrise 2008/2009," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 10(4), pages 389-412, November.

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