Sociology and Space, No. 33, 1971.
Original scientific paper
The Long-term Development of per-capita Consumption of Individual Socio-economic Categories of Households in Croatia up to 1985
Josip Štahan
Abstract
The first preliminary results of the author’s research on »Tendencies until
now ol change in the structure of per capita consumption and its influence on the
structure of production and anticipated development until 1985« which was done
under the auspices of a scientific-research project on »An Inquiry into the Stan
dard of Living of the Population«, by the Institute of Economics of Zagreb University
in 1970, are discussed in this article.
The long-term development of per capita consumption of individual socio-
-economic categories of households in Croatia was made on the basis of regression
analysis of preliminary results of a questionnaire on personal expenditure of
the population in 1968.
For a long-term prognosis of the personal consumption of individual socio-
-economic categories of households the lower and higher variants of a unit of
growth of personal consumption was taken. For this, the author took into consideration
that long-term development up to 1985 will mediate the differences in personal
consumption between individual socio-economic categories of the population.
Due to anticipated differences in the unit of growth of total personal consumption
in individual socio-economic categories of households, the growth of
individual groups of individual consumption will be varied and is at the same time
expressed differently in the structure of change in per capita consumption over
a long-term period.
In all socio-economic categories of households, the total personal consumption
is approaching a relative decrease in the share for subsistence and a relative increase
in the share of durable goods and services. Of course, the intensity of these
changes varies so that in 1985 there will be even more significant differences in
the structure of per capita consumption among individual socio-economic categories
of households. An even higher level of economic development, that is, of the
standard of living, is necessaiy in order to diminish the differences even more.
A decrease in the differences in the standard of living among individual socio-economic
categories of the population contributes generally to stabilization in the
economic and demographic structure, that is, to an increase in economic growth
and in the standard of living.
Prognoses of spending for food per capita and of the provision of durable
goods and automobiles also point to a growth m personal consumption and a
decrease in the differences in personal consumption ’ of individual socio-economic
categories of households in the long-term period until 1985.
These long-term prognoses of personal consumption, although they are of a
very rough character, can usefully serve as an orientation to the development of
production, for social direction of consumption and for the planning of the national
economy as a whole. For this reason it is important that this research be continued.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
119424
URI
Publication date:
3.9.1971.
Visits: 1.012 *