Consuming Knowledge: Studying Knowledge Use in Leisure and Work Activities

While consumers are recognized as valuing market goods and services for the activities they can construct from them in the frameworks of several disciplines, consequences of the characteristics of goods and services they use in these activities have not been well studied. In this work, knowledge-yielding and conventional goods and services are contrasted as factors in the construction of activities that consumers engage in when they are not in the workplace. Consumers are seen as deciding on non-work activities and the inputs to these activities according to their objectives, and the values and accumulated skills they hold. It is suggested that knowledge content in these activities can be efficient for consumer objectives and also have important externalities through its effect on productivity at work and economic growth. The exposition seeks to elaborate these points and contribute to multi-disciplinary dialogue on consumption.