The consumption of Brazilian families: a look at gender and race

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the patterns of Brazilian household consumption based on the gender and race of the head of the household. Depending on who is responsible for the family, more or less is spent on certain goods and services, not only due to individual preferences, but also due to different perceptions about priorities within the family itself. Regarding gender, the literature emphasizes that, for women, the greatest burden of spending is on the well-being of their children, and, in terms of race, there is still an incipient discussion about spending directed to identity issues, but it draws attention that a large part of the expenses be directed towards what is necessary to survive, given the worst living conditions of black and brown people in Brazilian society. To understand these differences in the consumption pattern of families whose heads are men or women, with different colors/races, this article analyzes the determinants of family consumption categories separately for each of these groups. To do so, we estimated a simultaneous demand system for the six main aggregate consumption categories (housing, transportation, food, health, education, and other expenses). The analysis was done with the 2017-2018 Household Budget Survey, by National Statistical Bureau. Our results suggest that women spend more on housing than men, while men invest more resources in transportation expenses than women. As for consumption patterns by race, the results suggest that in food expenses, black households spend more than white, regardless of the gender of the household head. In health and education expenses, white household heads spend more than black, and, about health, white women tend to spend more than men. Income, education, age, and children are important factors that may explain differences in these results.

Keywords: Household consumption; Gender; Race; Consumer Expenditure Survey