Abstract
It has frequently been asserted that ‘two can live as cheaply as one’; that is, there are economies of scale in joint consumption. Casual empiricism indicates that the existence of such economies may be plausible. For example, a one-bedroom apartment can accommodate a couple as well as a single individual. For another example, a space heater can provide warmth for one or more individuals. For still another example, a television set may be viewed simultaneously by several individuals.
I am grateful to Kenneth Arrow and George Feiwel for their insightful suggestions. This note was completed while I was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Financial support provided by National Science Foundation Grant no. BNS8206304 at the Center is gratefully acknowledged. This work was also partially supported by National Science Foundation Grant no. SOC77-11105 at the Department of Economics, Stanford University.
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References
Berge, C. (1963), Topological Spaces, Including a Treatment of Multi-Valued Functions, Vector Spaces and Convexity, New York: Macmillan.
Rockafellar, R. T. (1970) Convex Analysis, Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press.
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© 1985 George R. Feiwel
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Lau, L.J. (1985). The Technology of Joint Consumption. In: Feiwel, G.R. (eds) Issues in Contemporary Microeconomics and Welfare. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06876-0_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06876-0_16
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