外文翻译--消费结构的收敛.docVIP

本科毕业论文外文翻译 外文题目： Convergence of Consumption Structure 出 处： Working Papers IES 作 者： Tomá? Honzák, Jana Honzáková 外文原文 1. Introduction Purpose of this paper is to analyse the convergence of the consumption structure, both at the empirical and the theoretical levels. For the convergence of consumption patterns, a couple of theoretical explanations can be used. Our paper is based on the processes described by the post-Keynesian theory of the consumer choice. This theory does not assume perfect information and perfect rationality based on mathematical optimization as the mainstream economic theory does. It starts with the fact of the existence of the so-called fundamental uncertainty: in reality it is usually impossible to assign probability to possible outcomes. This leads to the so-called procedural rationality: some behavior is rational if we can logically explain it, be it by imitation of self - behaviour in the past or behavior of some reference group. After establishing the empirical fact of convergence, the post-Keynesian motives of consumer behavior are specified. Thereafter, a model of the dynamics of consumption structure is presented and simulation experiments with this model are described. These experiments are based on actual data about consumers in the Czech Republic and in Germany (in fact, we approximate by German consumers the old EU members consumers). 2. Does the Consumption Structure Really Converge? Let us look at three figures based on the Eurostat and OECD data sources. In Figure 1, the development of consumption expenditures for different categories of goods and services in the new EU members from 1995 to 2003 is demonstrated. Except of the expenditures for food and non-alcoholic beverages, no many clear trends can be distinguished. For each year, we calculated for each consumption category th