Adult Equivalent Scales: An Alternative Approach

Adult equivalent scales were estimated for five food groups and total food consumed at home. The scales were specified as continuous functions of age and restrictions were placed on the scales so that they approximate the way an individual affects household food expenditures throughout his life. The scale function is easily incorporated into expenditure models, and statistical tests can be used to determine the importance of household composition in explaining household expenditure behavior. Children were found to consume less total food—beef, pork, and vegetables—than adults, while the middleaged spent less on fruit than the elderly.