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Abstract
This study proposes a novel approach to estimating a recreational
demand model that accounts for intra-household resource allocation. The
technique is based on an analogy borrowed from the literature of collective
household behavior and, in particular, on Browning, Chiappori and Lewbel
(2006)’s model. We formulate a collective recreational demand model that takes
into account the role of each member’s preferences for consumption choices and
that depends on how disposable income is divided within the household. This
model identifies the Consumer Surplus for each household member and the
allocation of resources within a household by a consumption technology
function, which summarizes all of the technological economies of scale and
scope that result from living together, and by using information about the
consumption of individuals living alone as if they were living in a household.
Finally, we show that husbands and wives have significantly different
recreational demands. This implies that observations for husbands and wives
may not be treated as identical as in the traditional recreational demand model
(unless one spouse is the dictator) and that the collective setting is a plausible
next step to take in the analysis of recreational demand models.