The social stratification of the costs of motoring in France (1984-2006) Online publication date: Wed, 01-Jul-2015
by Yoann Demoli
International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management (IJATM), Vol. 15, No. 3, 2015
Abstract: This paper examines the evolutions and the role of the motoring expenditure in French household's budgets. It first presents the general trends of the budgetary weight of motoring expenditure. The fall in motoring expenditure budget since 1984 seems to suggest that the car is a 'normal' good, or even an 'inferior' good: the upward trend in household incomes has been accompanied by a fall in the share of expenditure on motoring. By using a classification the paper then presents how motoring expenditure conceals different rationale for French households. The expansion in car ownership thus demonstrates not so much a process of homogenisation as a form of polarisation illustrated here by the extremes of motoring expenditure devoted to renewal of a high quality car for some and the maintenance and use of a rather dilapidated one for others. Moreover, a close analysis of motoring expenditure reveals a three-fold rationale: a rationale of constraint, one of choice and one of risk.
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