This study extends prior consumer mass media expenditures research by proposing two new econometric models for testing the principle of relative constancy (PRC). The PRC posits that the proportion of income devoted to the mass media will not change significantly over time, although some variations among mass media categories may occur to enable new communication technologies to succeed in the marketplace. Regression and cointegration analyses were conducted with Belgian mass media expenditure data from 1953 to 1991. Results revealed that the PRC failed to be supported for both models. Because of the PRC's lack of economic foundation and ambiguous empirical evidence, the authors suggest a shift in emphasis from PRC research to development of alternative mass media expenditure models.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Annuaire de l'audiovisuel (3rd ed.). (1991). Brussels: Communauté Française de Belgique.
2.
Annuaire de l'audiovisuel: Vol 1. Radio-TV, satellites, télématicque, législation (4th ed.). (1993a). Brussels: Communauté Française de Belgique.
3.
Annuaire de l'audiovisuel: Vol 2. Cinéma, vidéo, marché du disque, la MCFB, répertoire d'addresses (4th ed.). (1993b). Brussels: Communauté Française de Belgique.
4.
Bouillin-Dartevelle, R.
, Thoveron, G., & Noël, F. (1991). Temps libre et pratiques culturelles. Liège, Belgium: Mardaga.
5.
De Bens, E.
(1991). Flanders in the spell of commercial television. European Journal of Communication, 6, 235-244.
6.
De Bens, E.
(1992). Belgium. In B. S. Østergaard (Ed.), The media in Western Europe (pp. 16-32). London: Sage.
7.
Dupagne, M.
(1994). Testing the relative constancy of mass media expenditures in the United Kingdom. Journal of Media Economics, 7(3), 1-14.
8.
Dupagne, M.
(1995, August). A theoretical and methodological critique of the principle of relative constancy. Paper presented to the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, DC.
9.
Dupagne, M.
(1996, April). The evolution of consumer mass media expenditures in Belgium, 1953-1991. Paper presented to the annual convention of the Broadcast Education Association, Las Vegas, NV.
10.
Engle, R. F.
, & Granger, C.W.J. (1987). Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing. Econometrica, 55, 251-276.
11.
European Audiovisual Observatory
. (1994). Statistical yearbook. Cinema, television, video, and new media in Europe. Strasbourg, France: Author.
12.
Fullerton, H. S.
(1988). Technology collides with relative constancy: The pattern of adoption for a new medium. Journal of Media Economics, 1(2), 75-84.
13.
Glascock, J.
(1993). Effect of cable television on advertiser and consumer spending on mass media, 1978-1990. Journalism Quarterly, 70, 509-517.
14.
Granger, C.W.J.
(1991). Developments in the study of cointegrated economic variables. In R. F. Engle & C.W.J. Granger (Eds.), Long-run economic relationships: Readings in cointegration (pp. 65-80). New York: Oxford University Press.
15.
Granger, C.W.J.
, & Newbold, P. (1974). Spurious regressions in econometrics. Journal of Econometrics, 2, 111-120.
16.
Griffiths, W. E.
, Hill, R. C., & Judge, G. G. (1993). Learning and practicing econometrics. New York: John Wiley.
17.
Gujarati, D. N.
(1988). Basic econometrics (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
18.
Hanke, J. E.
, & Reitsch, A. G. (1992). Business forecasting (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
19.
Houthakker, H. S.
(1957). An international comparison of household expenditure patterns, commemorating the centenary of Engel's Law. Econometrica, 25, 532-551.
20.
Institut National de Statistique
. (1993). Aperçu statistique de la Belgique. Brussels: Author.
21.
Jaumain, M., & Vandenbulcke, G. (1986). L'exploitation cinématographique en Belgique. Courrier Hebdomadaire du CRISP, No. 1129-1130.
22.
Kennedy, P.
(1992). A guide to econometrics (3rd ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
23.
McCombs, M. E.
(1972). Mass media in the marketplace. Journalism Monographs, No. 24.
24.
McCombs, M. E.
, & Nolan, J. (1992). The relative constancy approach to consumer spending for media. Journal of Media Economics, 5(2), 43-52.
25.
McCombs, M. E.
, & Son, J. (1986, August). Patterns of economic support for mass media during a decade of electronic innovation. Paper presented to the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Norman, OK.
26.
Newey, W. K.
, & West, K. D. (1987). A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix. Econometrica, 55, 703-708.
27.
Noam, E.
(1991). Television in Europe. New York: Oxford University Press.
28.
Noh, G. Y.
(1994, August). New media departure in the principle of relative constancy: VCRs. Paper presented to the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Atlanta, GA.
29.
Perman, R.
(1991). Cointegration: An introduction to the literature. Journal of Economic Studies, 18(3), 3-30.
30.
Pesaran, M. H.
, & Pesaran, B. (1991). Microfit 3.0: An interactive econometric software package (user manual). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
31.
Philips, P. C. B.
(1986). Understanding spurious regressions. Journal of Econometrics, 33, 311-340.
32.
Phlips, L.
(1983). Applied consumption analysis (rev. ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
33.
Pindyck, R. S.
, & Rubinfeld, D. L. (1991). Econometric models and economic forecasts (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
34.
Prais, S. J.
, & Houthakker, H. S. (1955). The analysis of family budgets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
35.
Ringlet, G.
(1989). La presse quotidienne belge francophone: Quelques suzerains, des omnibus et un carrousel. In G. Ringlet (Ed.), Le guide des médias. Brussels: Kluwer.
36.
Samuelson, P. A.
, & Nordhaus, W. D. (1989). Economics (13th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
37.
Son, J. (1990). The impact of new electronic media on audience support for mass media. Dissertation Abstracts International, 51, 3263A. (University Microfilms No. 91-05,666)
38.
Son, J.
, & McCombs, M. E. (1993). A look at the constancy principle under changing market conditions. Journal of Media Economics, 6(2), 23-36.
39.
Stock, J. H.
, & Watson, M. W. (1988). Variable trends in economic time series. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2(3), 147-174.
40.
Thomas, R. L.
(1987). Applied demand analysis. New York: Longman.
41.
Thoveron, G.
(1971). Radio et télévision dans la vie quotidienne. Brussels: Université Libre de Bruxelles, Institut de Sociologie.
42.
Van der biesen, W.
(1989). La Flandre et ses 5 quotidiens. In G. Ringlet (Ed.), Le guide des médias. Brussels: Kluwer.
43.
Wood, W. C.
(1986). Consumer spending on the mass media: The principle of relative constancy reconsidered. Journal of Communication, 36(2), 39-51.
44.
Wood, W. C.
, & O'Hare, S. L. (1991). Paying for the video revolution: Consumer spending on the mass media. Journal of Communication, 41(1), 24-30.
