An Empirical Study On The Influence Of Family Age Structure On Family Consumption

Our country’s economy has maintained a high growth rate throughout the year,and the relative household consumption rate is significantly lower than that of developed countries in the world.According to the life cycle hypothesis,age has an important influence on consumer behavior.From the perspective of the family’s age structure,this paper studies the influence of the proportion of adolescents in the family and the proportion of the elderly on family consumption and conducts an empirical test.Combined with the questioning of the rational person hypothesis raised by behavioral economics,it is believed that there are differences in the propensity to consume for different types of income,and there are psychological accounts of income.From the perspective of mental accounts,it explores the similarities and differences of the marginal propensity to consume for different age structures and different types of income,which in turn has an impact on the consumption behavior of the entire family.This article introduces age structure variables,as well as the interaction terms between age structure variables and different types of income,and uses the CFPS family tracking survey data 2014,2016,and 2018 balance panel data to conduct relevant empirical research.First,it proves that there is indeed a mental account of income in family consumption behavior in our country,and there is a habit of earmarking funds.Further,it is helpful to explore whether there are differences in household consumption of different age structures,and explain why there are differences from the perspective of the mental account of income.The empirical results show that the proportion of adolescents in Chinese families has a significant positive impact on household consumption,while the proportion of the elderly in the family has a significant negative impact on the consumption rate of households.The empirical results of the influence of family age structure on the mental account of income show that in families with more elderly people,the marginal propensity to consume for wage income and transfer income is greater,and the marginal propensity to consume for business income and property income is smaller;Families with larger youth populations have lower marginal propensity to consume for significant income types.Family age structure does have an impact on the mental account of income,which in turn affects family consumption.Studying the relationship between family age structure and residents’ consumption has certain practical significance for our country to realize the conversion of new and old kinetic energy,promote economic transformation and the dual cycle of internal and external development.It is helpful for the national government to formulate economic policies that are compatible with the age structure of the entire society to stimulate consumption.