SummaryOn income elasticities derived from family budgetsThis is a small part of a research into income elasticities, which was started when dr Stuvel was working under Prof. Richard Stone at the Department of Applied Economics of the University of Cambridge and was continued after dr Stuvel's return to Holland.Advantages and disadvantages are discussed of the two alternative methods of calculating income elasticities, to wit from time‐series or from family budgets.The first method is appropriate if one is interested in short‐term changes in consumption by changes in income; the second method is suitable whenever the economist's interest is centred on long‐term changes in consumption. The mathematical form chosen for the regression equations on family income is: C = aYbso that the income elasticity is independent of i