Age as a Factor Determining Consumer Spending of Retired People

The ргосеssees of the population's aging occuring in the contemporary society make it necessary to devote more attention to the economic effects of increase in the number of elderly people. This article presents the results of researches conducted with in the Key Research Problem No 11.5 and concerning the impact of the age on the volume and structure of consumer spending. The analysis comprised budgets in one-person households of retired people encompassed by a survey carried out by the Chief Statistical Office over the years 1973-1976. There was performed a statistical analysis and there were estimated paramaters for the demand function in which income, age of the person running a household and his/her educational background were used as independent variables. The obtained results revealed that the main source of differences in consumer spending among people belonging to consecutive age groups are differences in the possessed incomes. The estimated values of parameters at variables defining the age group are - with few exceptions - nonsignificant. This implies that the age is not the most important determinant of the consumer demand. Analysis of the influence exerted by other variables - first of all of the changes in the income and education level of the older fraction of the society - may produce results, which can be used as prerequisites in forecasting changes in the structure of needs connected with the observed process of the population’s aging