Appendix II: An alternative method for generating "per-adult equivalent" figures
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The results expressed on a "per adult" basis can be verified as follows. First, the same results are recalculated by making the assumption that no economies of scale can be achieved among non-durables (by dividing all consumption of non-durables by the number of individuals in the family). Second, the consumption of durables is deflated by the traditional square root of family size (as no one would contest the argument that no economies of scale can be achieved among household members for items such as housing, furniture, or automobiles). The results are then summed up to yield alternative consumption figures expressed on a "per-adult equivalent" basis.
The alternative method of measuring consumption of residence and properties essentially leads to results that are very similar to those obtained when adjusting for the square root of family size. As a proportion of total consumption, residence and properties makes up almost 50% of the total.
Deflating the consumption of non-durables by the number of individuals in the family results in very little change in the consumption of transportation, food, clothing, and care, and of "other" items for households as they reach their early 70s. As a result, the distributions are similar to those obtained in Section 5.
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