Parting with "Blue Monday" – Preferences in Home Production and Consumer Responses to Innovations

Ulrich Witt and Julia Sophie Woersdorfer

Papers on Economics and Evolution from Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography

Abstract: How can economic theory explain the reasons why consumers adopt innovations? Using the example of innovations in washing machines two approaches are compared. The first focuses in the manner of household production theory on changes in constraints without specifying preferences, leading to the well-known time substitution hypothesis. The second approach develops specific hypotheses about consumer preferences and focuses on how technical change accounts for them. The two approaches are empirically evaluated with a data set representing the motives suggested in washer advertisements for purchasing new vintages of machines over the period 1888 to 1989 in the U.S.

Keywords: home production; preferences; consumer motivation; product innovation; innovation diffusion; time substitution hypothesis; direct utility Length 30 pages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 D01 D11 D12 D13 N3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-ino, nep-mkt and nep-pke
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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