The demand for durable goods is more cyclical than that for nondurable goods and services. Consequently, the cash flow and stock returns of durable-good producers are exposed to higher systematic risk. Using the benchmark input-output accounts of the National Income and Product Accounts, we construct portfolios of durablegood, nondurable-good, and service producers. In the cross-section, an inv...

This study measures the effect of an increase in Japan’s Value Added Tax rate on the timing of household expenditures and consumption, which do not necessarily coincide. The analysis finds that durable and storable expenditures surged in the month prior to the tax rate increase, fell sharply upon implementation, but quickly returned to their previous long-run levels. Non-storable non-durable ex...

In this paper we examine the relationship between advertising spending and perceived product quality. The questions we ask are: Does a product's advertising spending in ̄uence consumers' perceptions of its quality? If so, does the effect remain even after accounting for objective quality, price and market share? Does knowledge about objective quality, from Consumer Reports or usage experience, a...

The use of durable medical equipment in the home, while not a recent development, was formally recognized by the Congress with the passage of the original Medicare legislation. Since that time the statute has been amended to provide for a more workable, economical, and desirable interface among the administrative, supplier, and user communities. To assist in achieving this end, a research proje...

T use of a durable good is limited by both its physical life and usable life. For example, an electric-car battery can last for five years (physical life) or 100,000 miles (usable life), whichever comes first. We propose a framework for examining how a profit-maximizing firm might choose the usable life, physical life, and selling price of a durable good. The proposed framework considers differ...