Consumption Takes Time

Ian Steedman (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)

'These lectures... are written in a lively, entertaining style.' - Economica

• 1. Consumption takes time Textbook consumption theory Brief references to some literature Time as a context Two commodity case Three commodity case Non-linear time constraint Rates of consumption Satiation and general equilibrium Work, consumption and 'leisure' times Concluding remarks 2. Zuruck Zu Gossen Gossen on the uses of time Selected responses to Gossen's gem Georgescu-Roegen on Gossen Forgetting the forefather? Comparative statics Comparative statics of alternative preferences Many time-uses Concluding remarks 3. Further explanatory analysis The basic case and its simplification Further discussion Preference loops on the time-constraint plane The expenditure function A specific expenditure function Comparative statics of time-use Cobb-Douglas preference loops From time use to commodity use Other forms of the C matrix Demand relations in commodity space Rates of consumption (and characterization of choices) Availability without consumption Non-linearities and non-convex consumption sets Intertemporal consumption theory Work and leisure Concluding remarks 4. Welfare economics The basic case Rates of consumption Availability Pure leisure time Pareto efficiency and competitive equilibria Three commodities Liberal welfare economics Capabilities Concluding remarks 5. Activities rather than wants A generalization Risk and uncertainty Space, location and travel Intrinsically-valued and result-valued activities Doing two things at once Repetition and Gossen's second law Practicing Set-up-times Sleep Endogenous T Voluntary work and charitable donations Shared activity Time-use surveys Some broader considerations 'Time, that most valuable health' (Alfred Marshall, 1873) Decision-making Satiable preferences Wider still