Measuring Consumption
The course is targeted at researchers, postgraduate students and analysts who want the theoretical background and practical skills to analyse consumption survey data, e.g. from the Income and Expenditure Surveys or the Living Conditions Surveys.
Course Content:
- Consumption surveys and Engel curves,
- Engel curves and equivalence scales. Microeconomic theory of demand,
- Estimating Demand equations,
- Social influences on consumption
- Life-cycle considerations,
- Micro and macro issues
Prerequisites: Course Participants will be expected to have already acquired basic Stata skills. Don't know Stata? Have a look at our Introduction to Stata course.
Date: This course will run for 11 weeks online, with one 1.5 hour lecture and one 1.5 hour Stata practical per week. The course will start in the first week of August 2021. The date will be confirmed soon.
Mode of Delivery: This course will be offered online.
Course Instructor: Prof Martin Wittenberg, Director, DataFirst and Jacqueline Mosomi, Post-Doc Fellow, SALDRU
Course Fees: Cost of the course is R10 500.00. Partial scholarships are available to bona fide students and academics.
Closing Date: Online application will open in May
This is a joint SALDRU and DataFirst course.
Participant comments
"It was helpful to learn how to use both non-parametric and parametric methods to measure consumption. On a personal level it was interesting to learn about conspicuous consumption and whether it occurs in my own life. I concluded “Nope, definitely not” as I am investing in the education of 3 dependants! At the end of it all, I feel I have learnt enough from the course to write a research paper." (Patricia Koka, Stats SA)
"The course provided new knowledge but it also refreshed my memory of some of the theories (such as the Engel and Rothbarth methods) that I learned during my undergraduate studies. Proving these theories using real life data – The Living Conditions Survey - and understanding why the National Accounts differ from the LCS was fascinating for me. I am looking forward to applying my knowledge in analyzing the LCS 2014/15 data and producing detailed and informative reports for our Stats SA data users."” (Thapelo Tshabadira, Stats SA)
