Microeconomic models of intra-household activity time allocation

The primary purpose of this research is to analyze theoretically the group decisionmaking process leading to the allocation of activity time and the consumption of goods, with particular emphasis in the households. Each household is characterized as a group of individuals making joint decisions about their activity participations, alternative activity time allocations and consumption of various goods, such as independent and joint activity time allocations as well as private and shared consumption patterns. We firstly explore why individual-based models are not realistic in multi-person households, and secondly, we summarize various intra-household activity time allocation models based on different decision-making processes. All models are presented under microeconomic principle of utility maximization to represent the economic behavior of the households.

Household water use behavior : an integrated model

Water authorities are dealing with the challenge of ensuring that there is enough water to meet demand in the face of drought, population growth and predictions of reduced supply due to climate change. In order to develop  effective household demand management programs, water managers need to understand the factors that influence household water use. Following an examination and re-analysis of current water consumption behavioral models we propose a new model for understanding household water consumption. We argue that trust plays a role in household water consumption, since people will not save water if they feel others are not minimizing their water use (inter-personal trust). Furthermore, people are less likely to save water if they do not trust the water authority (institutional trust). This paper proposes that to fully understand the factors involved in determining household water use the impact of trust on water consumption needs investigation.