Personal Consumption of Household Services

Unlike for personal consumption of income, there is no literature for personal consumption of household services. Absent such a literature, some forensic economists use a variety of methods to estimate personal consumption of household services while others make no estimate. Using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data from 2003-2019, this study estimated the percentage of household services that are self-consumed based on the characteristics of the decedent and the decedent's household. The results show that the personal consumption percentage varies with the household size; number of household adults; age of the youngest child; and the decedent's sex, age, employment status, and (when applicable) the employment status of the decedent's spouse/partner. Generally, the personal consumption percentage is higher for men than women, decreases with the number of household children, increases with the age of the youngest child, is higher for respondents employed full-time compared to other employment statuses, and lower when the respondent's spouse/partner is employed full-time compared to other employment statuses. Note that in making these estimates, fungibility of time presents challenges when accounting for the contributions of various household members in the production of household services. These challenges are likely substantial between adults and minors in a household. To ignore the contribution of household members other than the decedent will underestimate the personal consumption of household services, just as ignoring fungibility issues by including the contributions of all household members will overestimate the personal consumption of household services. Accordingly, this study developed a model for the personal consumption of household services that considers only the contributions of household adults.