Household Production and the Demand for Food and Other Inputs: U.S. Evidence

The paper develops a new productive household model and a consistent household full-income/expenditure demand system for inputs and leisure of U.S. households. The demand system is fitted to U.S. annual aggregate data over the last half of the 20th century and findings include that the price and income elasticity of demand for food-at-home are roughly two times larger than for food-away-from-home and that food-at-home and away-from-home are substitutes. The price and income elasticity of demand for men's unpaid housework are twice as large as for women's unpaid housework and women's and men's unpaid housework are shown to be complements.