Two essays on consumer demand and population aging in Brazil

• Ano de defesa: 2018
• Autor(a) principal: Travassos, Guilherme Fonseca
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
• Palavras-chave em Português: Idosos - Consumo; Idosos - Bem-estar social; Envelhecimento; Economia do Bem-Estar Social
• Link de acesso: http://www.locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/19423

This thesis studies two topics on consumer demand and population aging using Brazilian data. We first present an introductory chapter about the situation of the elderly in Brazil addressing aspects such as the demographic transition, the profile of the Brazilian elderly, the socio-demographic conditions of this segment and, finally, the consequences and trends of population aging in Brazil. The intention of this introductory chapter is to guide the research problems related to the elderly population that will be presented in the next chapters. In the first essay, we analyze the level of well-being of the elderly people. Understanding such theme is important for the design of public policies and income transfer for the elderly, such as the calculation of poverty rates, life insurance and death pensions. However, little is known about this topic in developing countries and estimates from rich economies may have limited external validity to the developing world. Thus, this application becomes relevant in the Brazilian context, since the vast majority of the elderly survive from income transfer programs, such as death pensions and retirement. Results indicate that elderly individual’s consumer preferences in Brazil are very similar by gender and both are more sensitive to changes in expenditure and price for Health care. The results indicate substantial economies of scale and a husband’s share that is increasing in total expenditures. OECD scale underestimates poverty among elderly women in couples and overestimates poverty among elderly men in couples. In the case of widow and widowers, in most of the periods, OECD scale underestimates poverty rates. Finally, we find that the drop in material well-being following the wife’s death is rather substantial for men and the opposite was observed for women. The second essay compares consumption expenditure patterns and demand, measure by price and income elasticities, of the elderly and adult-headed households, taking into account socio- economic factors associated to consumer behavior. Our study recognizes that differences between expenditure of the elderly and the adults are important in order to establish appropriate public policies to help elderly consumers. In the course of the aging process, elderly households will play an increasing role, but their behavior might differ substantially from younger people. Again, little is known about this issue in developing countries, especially those in Latin America, and mainly in Brazil. The findings suggest that Brazilian elderly and adult-headed households have different consumption patterns. Adult-headed households were more sensitive to changes in expenditure for Food products, while households headed by the elderly showed more sensitivity for Health care. Demographic variables, mainly gender, education level and government transfers, influence the demand for most of the goods in Brazilian elderly headed households. Government transfers help elderly households to spend more on Housing and Health care. In relation to household composition variables, those formed only by the elderly demand less Food and more Housing; those households composed by the elderly with children demand more Clothing and Transportation products and less Habitation and Health care products; and those households composed by the elderly with relatives demand less Health care products. Together, the two essays contribute to a better understanding about consumer pattern, consumer demand and well-being of elderly using data from Brazil, a developing economy.