Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1982

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Textiles and Clothing

Major Professor

Leona A. Kocher

Committee Members

Maxine McManus, Jacquelyn DeJonge

Abstract

In this project the economic effect of the development and consumption of durable press finished fabrics on the demand for home washers and dryers was estimated. Evaluations were made for the post World War II period, 1946-1980, with emphasis placed on the years 1957-1980.

Automatic washers and dryers were introduced just prior to World War II. Since the war, their consumption has increased greatly. Washers have now reached their market saturation peak, while dryer saturation is expected to peak within the next ten years. Durable press finished fabrics were first produced in 1957 on a commercial basis. They have received wide acceptance for use in clothing and home textiles since 1964. Because durable press has special care needs, many changes in washer and dryer features have been made to meet those needs. It was hypothesized that the presence of durable press finished fabrics on the market could have influenced demand for washers and dryers during the post World War II period.

The model used to test this hypothesis was a generalized model of demand for durable goods, which was proposed by Ramocki in 1978. Total demand and its two component parts, new and replacement demand, were evaluated separately. A linear relationship among the independent variables—price, income, change in stock, level of stock, debt, and credit and the dependent variable, demand, was postulated. The results were obtained through the use of ordinary least squares regression.

The analysis was completed in two stages. In the first stage models of best fit were estimated. Price and income elasticities for demand for the two products were also estimated. The models of best fit were used in the second stage of the analysis. In this latter part dummy variables and a time trend were added to the previously established equations in order to estimate the effect of product technology on demand for the goods. The effect of feature related product technology was evaluated over the period 1946-1980. The effect of durable press finished fabric related product technology was examined for the years 1957-1980.

Feature related changes in product technology had a positive influence on demand for washers in the 1946-1980 period under investigation. Technology changes related to durable press finished fabrics were found to positively affect demand for automatic washers even though that impact was small. The influence appeared to have been stronger from 1957-1972 than for 1973-1980. Changes in product technology were found to have had the greatest impact on new demand during the period 1967-1972, while changes had the greatest impact in replacement demand during 1957-1966. In the last period, 1973-1980, the impact of product technology changes related to durable press finished fabrics was slight.

The effect of product technology changes on the demand for dryers was less clear. Product technology changes related to features had a positive influence from 1946-1980. However, fabric related product technology changes appeared to have had a negative influence on total demand during the years 1957-1980. A small positive influence on new demand was found in the second period, 1967-1972. A slight positive influence was also observed from 1957-1980 on the replacement demand for dryers.

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