Estimation of the Impact of the Age Difference in Households of the Same Generation on the Age Level of Consumption

The available methods for calculating the age level of consumption focus on determining the level of consumption by children. At the same time, previous studies show a decrease in the level of consumption after retirement. From a research point of view, it is of practical interest to estimate the distortion of one-year age profile of consumption depending on the age difference between the adult members of the household. Among common episodic households, the paper compares the age profiles of consumption for households with two adults aged 18 to 80 years. The paper compares indexes of average per capita consumption, and estimates the level of age difference in households for the age level of consumption. The author introduces such a concept as “net consumption”, under the influence of which sensitivity to age is absorbed. To create “net consumption” in the general chronology, only households with a minimum age difference are examined.
The purpose of the study. Estimation of the age level of consumption depending on the demographic characteristics of the household is little studied in modern literature. As a rule, the papers provide methods for assessing the level of children consumption. However, when creating age profiles of consumption, the age characteristics of households are not taken into account. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of the difference in the age of people living together in a household on the age profiles of consumption. Both in Russia and in the EU countries, the average difference in age between the first marriage is on average 2.5 years, and the largest difference can reach more than 30 years. From a statistical point of view, it is of practical interest to study the average per capita age level of consumption depending on the difference in the age of a married couple.
Materials and methods. The source of data for the study is the Household Budget Survey (HBS) conducted by Rosstat for 2020. The paper compares age profiles of consumption created by the minimum age of the household, by the maximum, by the average, and by the classical method. In addition, the paper compares the age profiles created by the classical method, taking into account the limitation of the age difference between household members.
Results. The results obtained from the 2020 HBS survey allow conclusions to be drawn about different age profiles depending on the proposed calculation methods. The results of the study showed that among households consisting of two people, almost a third of households (34.1%) have an age difference of more than 5 years. In the context of calculating one-year age profiles of consumption, a significant age difference in age will lead to a distortion of age profiles of consumption. Among households consisting of two people, the largest difference in the level of average per capita consumption between all households of two people and households of two people with an age difference of no more than 1 year is observed in early working ages (from 18 to 22 years). The introduced restrictions reduce the level of consumption by about a third at the age of 18-19 years. The introduced restrictions increase the average per capita level of consumption in the age group of 22-45 years by an average of 9.4% compared to classical calculations. The opposite situation is observed in the age group of 70-80 years old: the introduced restrictions reduce the average per capita level of consumption by 2.9%.
Conclusion. The paper draws attention to the different results of the calculation of age consumption, depending on the methodological features. The author introduces the term “net age consumption”, which is calculated for households with an age difference between household members of no more than 1 year. Suggestions for estimating per capita consumption can be applied to model human consumption over the life cycle. At the same time, as a rule, the characteristics of households are far from the “model” consumption, which necessitates further study of the factors affecting the level of consumption depending on the characteristics of the household.

1. Bogdanov B.S. “Marriage premium”: why married men earn more than unmarried men [Internet]. HSEdaily. Available from: https://daily.hse.ru/post/610. (In Russ.)

2. Bushuyeva L.I., Karmanov M.V., Kuznetsov V.I. On the manipulation of statistical data. Korporativnoye upravleniye i innovatsionnoye razvitiye ekonomiki Severa: Vestnik Nauchno-issledovatel’skogo tsentra korporativnogo prava, upravleniya i venchurnogo investirovaniya Syktyvkarskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta = Corporate governance and innovative development of the economy of the North: Bulletin of the Research Center for Corporate Law, Management and Venture Investment of Syktyvkar State University. 2022; 2; 1: 92-99. (In Russ.)

3. Vishnevskiy A.G., Zakharov S.V., Sakevich V.I. Marriage and fertility. V kn.: Naseleniye Rossii 2005: Trinadtsatyy yezhegodnyy demograficheskiy doklad / Ruk.: A.G. Vishnevskiy; otv. red.: A. G. Vishnevskiy = In the book: Population of Russia 2005: Thirteenth annual demographic report / Leader: A. G. Vishnevsky; resp. Ed.: A.G. Vishnevsky. Moscow: GU-HSE Publishing House. Moscow: GU-HSE Publishing House. 2007; 2: 40-124. (In Russ.)

4. Gimpel’son V.Ye. Age, productivity, wages. National Research University Higher School of Economics. Moscow: Ed. house of the Higher School of Economics; 2018. 66 p. (In Russ.)

5. Denisenko M.B., Kozlov V.A. Intergenerational accounts and the demographic dividend in Russia. Demograficheskoye obozreniye, elektronnyy nauchnyy zhurnal = Demographic Review, electronic scientific journal. 2018; 5; 4: 6–35. (In Russ.)

6. Zakharov S.V. Marriage structure of the population, conclusion and termination of marriages in Russia in the light of the results of the 2015 microcensus. V kn.: Naseleniye Rossii 2016: dvadtsat’ chetvertyy yezhegodnyy demograficheskiy doklad = In the book: Population of Russia 2016: twenty- fourth annual demographic report / Ed.: S.V. Zakharov. Moscow: NRU HSE Publishing House; 2018; 5: 99-159. (In Russ.)

7. Zakharov S.V. Age model of marriage. Otechestvennyye zapiski = Otechestvennye zapiski. 2006; 31; 4: 271-300. (In Russ.) 8. Zakharov S.V. The latest trends in family formation in Russia. Mir Rossii: Sotsiologiya, etnologiya = World of Russia: Sociology, Ethnology. 2007; 16; 4: 73-112. (In Russ.)

8. Zakharov S.V., Artamonova A.V., Mitrofanova Ye.S. Marriage and divorce. V kn.: Naseleniye Rossii 2015: dvadtsat’ tretiy yezhegodnyy demograficheskiy doklad = In the book: Population of Russia 2015: twenty-third annual demographic report / Ed.: S.V. Zakharov. Moscow: NRU HSE Publishing House; 2017; 2: 60-111. (In Russ.)

9. Kalabikhina I.Ye., Shaykenova Zh.K. Demographic review. Otsenka transfertov vremeni vnutri domokhozyaystv = Assessment of time transfers within households. 2018; 5; 4: 36–64. (In Russ.)

10. Karmanov M.V. Current trends in the development of modern demographic statistics. Ekonomika, statistika i informatika. Vestnik UMO = Economics, Statistics and Informatics. Vestnik UMO. 2010; 5: 62-68. (In Russ.)

11. Kuznetsov K.V. Features of the structure of age-related expenses in the Russian Federation. Statistika i Ekonomika = Statistics and Economics. 2021; 18; 5: 47-59. (In Russ.)

12. Mitrofanova Ye.S. (Not) time to grow up: how the age of the onset of debut biographical events among Russians changes. Demograficheskoye obozreniye = Demographic Review. 2020; 4: 36–61. (In Russ.)

13. Mitrofanova Ye.S. Models of growing up of different generations of Russians. Demograficheskoye obozreniye = Demographic Review. 2019; 6; 4: 53–82. (In Russ.)

14. Nazarova A.G. On the development of aggregated transfer accounts. Voprosy statistiki = Questions of statistics. 2019; 26; 11: 57-67. (In Russ.)

15. Nazarova A.G., Chernyavskiy A.V. Aggregated transfer accounts for the Russian Federation: basics of construction and analysis. Voprosy statistiki = Questions of statistics. 2019; 26; 4: 32–44. (In Russ.)

16. Nazarova A.G. Aggregated transfer accounts in regional macroanalysis. Voprosy statistiki = Questions of statistics. 2022; 29; 5: 5-16. (In Russ.)

17. Rukovodstvo po natsional’nym transfertnym schetam: izmereniye i analiz pokazateley ekonomiki pokoleniy. Organizatsiya Ob”yedinennykh Natsiy, N’yu-York, 2022 g. = Guide to National Transfer Accounts: Measuring and Analyzing the Performance of the Generational Economy. United Nations, New York.

18. D’Albis H., Moosa D. Generational economics and the national transfer accounts. Journal of Demographic Economics. 2015; 81(4): 409-441.

19. Deaton A. The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconomic Approach to Development Policy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1997.

20. Lee R., Mason A. eds. Population Aging and the Generational Economy: A Global Perspective. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited; 2011. 616 p.

21. Lee R., Mason А. Population aging and generational economics: key findings. Population Aging and the Generational Economy /R. Lee, A. Mason, eds. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing; 2011: 3-31.

22. Lee R., Miller T. Population Age Structure, Intergenerational Transfer, and Wealth: A New Approach, With Applications to the United States. The Journal of Human Resources. 1994; 29(4): 1027- 1063.

23. Mason A., Lee M., Abrigo M., Lee S. Support Ratios and Demographic Dividends: Estimates for the World. New York (NY): Population Division, United Nations; 2017: 52.

24. Solveig Erlandsen & Ragnar Nymoen. Consumption and population age structure. Journal of Population Economics. 2008; 21: 505–520.

25. Willis R.J. Life cycles institutions and population growth: a theory ofthe equilibrium interest rate in an overlapping generations model. Economics of Changing Age Distribution in Developed Countries / R. Lee, W. Arthur, G. Rodgers, eds. New York: Oxford University Press; 1988: 106-138.