An Econometric Analysis of the Outsourcing of Meals and Household Activities

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The expenditure ratio of foodstuffs for homemade meals to total food expenses is decreasing, though the rest such the proportion of expenditure for convenience foods (cooked foods, fast foods, and so on) and eating out is increasing. This trend of food consumption by households is called outsourcing of meals, and it shows the process, which substitutes homemade meals with convenience foods and eating out. Therefore, the outsourcing of meals can be considered to be replacement activities for the market goods and services, and involves changes in time used for housework.The purpose of this study is to clarify the relation between outsourcing of meals and household activities. Changes in wage rate and family size take up as important related factors.The framework and results are as follows ;1. The substitution mentioned above is investigated empirically by the statistics.2. The demand function of foodstuffs for homemade meals is derived from the household demand model and the following two hypotheses are presented ; According to a rise in the wage rate, convenience foods and eating out are substituted for homemade meals because the opportunity cost of housework goes up (hypothesis I), According to a reduction in the family size, convenience foods and eating out are substituted for homemade meals because the efficiency of domestic production falls and the opportunity cost of domestic cooking per person goes up (hypothesis II).3. As a result of estimation, the hypotheses are supported. It can be explained that the fact as outsourcing of meals is a very economical behavior by households for which saves costly homemade meals, and convenience foods and eating out replace homemade meals since the opportunity cost of homemade meal preparation has become high by a rise in the wage rate and because of the shrinking size of the family.