An Analysis of the Price Elasticity of Demand for Household Appliances

This report summarizes our study of the price elasticity of demand for home appliances, including refrigerators, clothes washers, and dishwashers. In the context of increasingly stringent appliance standards, we are interested in what kind of impact the increased manufacturing costs caused by higher efficiency requirements will have on appliance sales. We begin with a review of existing economics literature describing the impact of economic variables on the sale of durable goods.We then describe the market for home appliances and changes in this market over the past 20 years, performing regression analysis on the shipments of home appliances and relevant economic variables including changes to operating cost and household income. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the demand for home appliances is price inelastic.