Household budgets

Table 9.10 shows the distribution of U.S. household incomes, which limits what each household can afford to buy. Let us consider baby diapers. A mother has a number of options to consider cloth diapers delivered to the home and retrieved after use, cloth diapers that are home laundered, disposable paper diapers for the garbage can after use, and the rural poor may let the babies run around with bare bottoms. The poor families buy less goods, and need to concentrate purchases on housing and basic food, such as bread and potatoes. The expenditure of 456 for disposal diapers in a budget of 75,000 is 0.6%, which is not a serious problem but for families with less than 10,000 income per year, this sum becomes 4.5%, which represents a much bigger burden, and less expensive and affordable options would be chosen. 

The purchasing budget of a household depend on national economic and social conditions, such as the increase in average personal income, the unemployment rate. 

Fan, J. (1994) Household budget allocation patterns of Asian-Americans Are they different from other ethnic groups. Consumer Interests Annuals 40, 81-88. 

Some countries undertake shopping basket or household budget surveys (HBS), which involve simply recording the contents of a shopping basket for a known family size. However this has many shortcomings. Consider a... 

In 1997, health expenditures in Germany totaled 298 billion, equal to 14.2 /o of the GDP. The health care system in Germany is decentralized, and health care expenditures are covered by a variety of sources/payers. The statutory insurance system (GKV) represents the biggest proportion of the total care coverage (for almost 50 /o). Employers, government budget, private households, private insurance. 

Economics is concerned with the most efficient allocation of scarce resources to various uses and with the creation and distribution of wealth. The complete economic picture can best be understood by first discussing how the individual consumer or household chooses to allocate a limited budget and how these individual choices subsequently lead to demand for a product. Section 2.1 reviews of some important aspects of consumer economics. 

Household Growth Households are of particular importance to future markets because they are the fundamental purchasing unit. Virtually all consumer-spending decisions are made within the context of household needs and budgets. Thus, new households create new sales opportunities. 

In 1983 drugs supplied to the National Health Service amounted to a value of 1 588 m, at manufacturers prices, which was 10.2% of the cost of the whole NHS. Drug costs as a percentage of the NHS budget have varied little in the last two decades. In addition 330 m worth of household medicines were sold in the UK. Pharmaceutical imports amounted to 470 m whereas exports were 1 074 m, leaving a positive trade balance of 604 m. 

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