Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

3-1983

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major Professor

David B. Eastwood

Committee Members

Roger Swagler, Duncan Case, Fran Trusty

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a household production model to identify key decision variables associated with home repair. This theoretical model is based on the household production function model and accommodates the dual role of consumers as both producers and consumers of the commodity housing repairs.

The model was tested using a subset from the 1975 Time Use Study, a national probability sample, conducted by the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. The subset included only homeowners and only respondent data resulting in a subsample of 682 cases.

The statistical procedure used was discriminant analysis which allowed statistical discrimination between two household groups: those who self produce housing repairs and those who contract these repairs. The discriminating variables were: age of respondent, household income, household size, households with teenagers, respondent repair skill, respondent satisfaction in doing repairs, age of housing structure, and use of vacation time.

Because housing repairs were assumed to have different production functions, discriminant functions were derived for nine housing repair categories covered by the survey data: interior painting, exterior painting, papering, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, masonry, television, and other household appliance and equipment repairs.

The analysis portion of the discriminant program indicated that these variables statistically discriminated between the two groups under analysis in the manner predicted by the model and hypotheses: household income, household size, respondent repair skill, respondent satisfaction in doing repairs, and age of housing unit. As these variables increased households were more likely to self produce housing repairs. These variables alter the cost of self producing the commodity housing repairs through their effect on relative time costs, marginal products, and marginal utilities.

The classification aspect of the discriminant program yielded results on the nine repair categories ranging from 66 to 91 percent correctly classified cases. The simpler repairs, interior and exterior painting and papering, were most frequently correctly classified for the self-production group.

The findings of this study could be utilized by those involved in developing housing policy, implementing loans or grants based on self-help housing rehabilitation, or providing education, counseling, or information related to self producing housing repair. Future research ought to focus on extending the analysis to include home improvements, on comparing household repair behavior over time, and on determining what influences repair satisfaction.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS