Viewing the household as both a producing and consuming unit suggests the opportunity cost of the homemaker's time to be an important factor affecting food consumption. Opportunity cost of time is shown empirically to have a positive affect on away‐from‐home consumption for employed homemakers in all 12 region‐urbanization classes studied. The same response is shown for unemployed homemakers in most classes. Furthermore, the estimated bias associated with income elasticities estimated without adjustment for the time input was significant in most cases. Estimated effects of income, family composition and size, and race on away‐from‐home food consumption are analyzed.

Data reported in the 1965–66 U.S.D.A. Household Food Consumption Survey were analyzed with two objectives: (1) to determine whether household consumption expenditures for various food products are related to homemakers' education and (2) to compare income elasticities and the effects of homemakers' education for selected food products. Income and educational elasticities estimated for 22 different foods indicate that differences in homemakers' education in addition to household income can have significant effects on the composition of household food expenditures. In most cases the educational and income elasticities had the same sign suggesting similar directional effects of these two variables on expenditures. All but two of the income elasticities and approximately one‐half of the educational elasticities were significantly different from zero.

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The purpose of the study was to examine how health expenditures vary among elderly households and how expenditure patterns across other commodity groups are influenced by various factors, including higher medical expenditures. Household expenditure data for five different age groups of elderly households included in the 1972-1973 Consumer Expenditure Survey were used in the analysis. Multiple regression procedures were used to estimate a complete set of budget share equations with and without health expenditures as an independent variable. Results indicate readjustments in expenditure patterns resulting from higher direct medical payments are likely to lead to significant reductions in food, housing, transportation, and taxes under current policy. This could have important long-run implications for elderly adults as well as for the entire economy. The research also indicated the importance of controlling for age differences when studying expenditure patterns of elderly adults.

This article is concerned with differences that can occur in measured demand elasticities because of varying lengths of adjustment period. Although it is generally accepted that length of run affects the elasticity of demand for use, its effect on the demand for stocks is not as widely recognized. The following analysis considers the effect of length of run on both of these components of the total demand for a commodity and then brings these results together to evaluate their joint effect on measured demand elasticities. Demand for use is shown to be more elastic in the long run when the relationship between commodities is either one of substitutability or complementarity. Also, conditions are presented under which the demand for a commodity for storage is more elastic in tbe short run. Finally, the condition necessary for the total elasticity of demand to have a ''U'' shape with respect to length of adjustment period is specified.I T IS generally accepted that the demand for most commodities is likely to vary for different lengths of adjustment period. This implies variation in the elasticity of demand associated with time.' Although the elasticity of demand is often considered to vary directly with time, empirical results obtained by Tomek and Pasour provide an example in which demand appears to be more elastic for a shorter length of run.Tomek estimated the price elasticity of demand for fresh apples at the farm level using annual data for the period 1947-1962. This estimate was -.46. 2 Pasour, using data for a similar period of time, divided the marketing year into three periods and computed seasonal elasticities at the farm level. Although a satisfactory relationship was not obtained in one of the periods, the coefficients of price elasticity of demand in the other two periods were -.75 and -1.33, both apparently higher than the estimate obtained by Tomek." Shepherd, in considering the effect of time, states that there are two opposing forces affecting the elasticity of demand.t On the one hand, short-time elasticities (e.g., day, week, or month) are likely to be greater than longer-time elasticities (e.g., year) since a larger proportion of the .. Published with the approval of the director of research as Paper No. 1971 of the Journal Series. The authors wish to acknowledge helpful comments from Paul R.