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ERIC Number: EJ836134
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0485
EISSN: N/A
Optimal Consumption When Consumption Takes Time
Miller, Norman C.
Journal of Economic Education, v40 n2 p200-212 Spr 2009
A classic article by Gary Becker (1965) showed that when it takes time to consume, the first order conditions for optimal consumption require the marginal rate of substitution between any two goods to equal their relative full costs. These include the direct money price and the money value of the time needed to consume each good. This important conclusion has generally been ignored in textbooks. The present author calls attention to this topic by deriving Becker's conclusions within a simple two good framework. Then, he extends his work by showing that Becker's first order conditions are unlikely to be relevant if one drops Becker's strong assumption that time spent working (and, thus, money income) and time available for consuming are chosen endogenously by consumers. (Contains 3 figures and 13 notes.)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A