Meat and fish consumption patterns in Saudi Arabia

This study analyses the demand for meat (beef, chicken and lamb) and fish in Saudi Arabia in a system-wide framework using data for the period 1985–2010. A preliminary data analysis reveals that, in Saudi Arabia, the relative consumption of beef, chicken and fish has a positive growth, while lamb has a negative growth. The average relative price growth rates of beef, chicken and fish are negative, while that of lamb is positive. The expenditure shares of beef, chicken and fish have increased while that of lamb has fallen. The estimation results of the demand system reveal that there is an autonomous trend out of lamb into beef, chicken and fish. The implied income elasticities indicate that beef, lamb and fish are considered to be luxuries, while chicken is a necessity. The demand for all meat products and fish are price inelastic. These elasticities are key inputs for policy analysts in terms of devising policies in relation to meat production, meat imports, taxation and food security issues in Saudi Arabia. The usefulness of the implied elasticities is demonstrated by simulating the consumption of beef, chicken, lamb and fish under various policy scenarios.     

The US retail demand for fish products: an application of the almost ideal demand system

The main objective is to address the limitations of past US fish demand research through the development of a variation of the almost ideal demand system model for disaggregate fish products at the retail level. Price and expenditure elasticities, as well as elasticities of substitution between fish products and other protein commodities, determined from this work may be used in the context of fisheries management and market development and promotion. Results indicate that with the exception of shellfish, demand for the various fish products is relatively inelastic. Cross-price elasticities are generally moderate while expenditure elasticities are large and positive for fresh fish and shellfish. Demographic effects, especially geographical division, season, race, occupation, age–sex household composition, and price–income interaction, as a proxy for quality, are highly significant variables.     

Impacts of meat product recalls on consumer demand in the USA

The impact of meat product recall events on consumer demand (beef, pork, poultry, and other consumption goods) in the USA is tested empirically. Beef, pork, and poultry recall indices are constructed from both the Food Safety Inspection Service's meat recall events and from newspaper reports over the period 1982–1998. Following previous product recall studies, recall indices are incorporated as shift variables in consumers’ demand functions. Estimating an absolute price version of the Rotterdam demand model, findings indicate that Food Safety Inspection Service's meat recall events significantly impact demand, and newspaper reports do not. Moreover, although elasticities related to recall events are significant they are small in magnitude relative to price and income effects. Any favourable effects on the demands of meat substitutes for a recall are offset by a more general negative effect on meat demand. The general negative effect indicates a shift out of meat to non-meat consumption goods.     

Quotas and the structure of consumer demand

In the direct utility function, quantities axe exogenous, while prices and total expenditure are endogenous. Consequently, this utility function is appropriate for analyzing the impact on prices and total expenditure from an exogenous change in the quantity of a commodity. Such an exogenous change in quantity could occur when quotas change. The direct translog utility function is estimated for a four commodity breakdown of U.S. expenditure. Estimates of quantity elasticities of price and expenditure indicate that domestically produced non-durables are necessities. As a result, the imposition of quotas on these goods will be particularly deleterious to lower income consumers.     

Modeling quality demand with data from Household Budget Surveys: An application to meat and fish products in Greece

In this paper, we employ a method to examine the factors affecting quality choice by Greek households, using cross-sectional survey data. We illustrate the method using the raw data of the 2004/05 Household Budget Survey for meat and fish products. Quality elasticities of total food expenditure and household's age structure are derived. To cope with the zero expenditure problem, Heckman's two-step method is employed. Results generally suggest that several socio-economic factors affect quality demand for meat and fish.     

Retail Demand for Meat in Australia: A Utility Theory Approach*

This paper examines Australian retail demand for meat for the post-war period 1949-50 to 1978-79. Several systems of demand equations are estimated, each system (comprising equations for beef, mutton, lamb, pork and chicken) being derived from an underlying static utility function. Model selection procedures are used to determine the preferred specifications). The validity of the utility theory approach is investigated by: testing for the presence of autocorrelation; examining the monotonicity and convexity properties of the utility functions; and comparing the estimated price and expenditure elasticities with those of other Australian studies. Serial correlation does arise as a problem, but other results provide support for the theory.     

Effects of health information on Nordic meat and fish demand

Increasing public concerns about health risks associated with dietary intakes of cholesterol are expected to have significant impacts on the demand for foods with high fat content. This paper investigates how information about cholesterol, as measured by two newly constructed indices based on published medical research, has affected the demand for meats (beef, chicken and pork) and fish in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). To compare the effects of information across countries and over time, the demand equations for all the countries are estimated within one system, and a complete set of price and expenditure elasticities is estimated. Our findings suggest that health information has affected consumption in a healthy way in all countries studied except for Denmark. We find positive effects on the demand for chicken in Finland, Norway and Sweden and for fish in Finland and Sweden. A negative effect on the demand for beef in Sweden also is found. First version received: May 2001/Final version received: December 2001 RID="*" ID="*"  The authors would like to thank Wen S. Chern and Bj?rn Sl?en for their assistance in the construction of the health information indices. The suggestions of two anonymous referees have also been of great assistance. The EU (contract FAIRS-CT97-3373) and the Research Council of Norway (grant no. 134018/110) provided financial support for this research.”     

The income elasticity of household energy demand: a quantile regression analysis

This article examines variation in the income elasticity of household energy demand across the energy expenditure distribution using expenditure data from the five most recent Household Budget Surveys (HBSs) in Ireland: the 1987, 1994/1995, 1999/2000, 2004/2005 and 2009/2010 HBS. The analysis uses a two-stage instrumental variable quantile regression approach and is based on each HBS cross section, as well as the overall pooled observations. The estimated elasticities are compared across low- and high-energy-consumption scenarios and to a benchmark elasticity estimated using two-stage least squares. The results provide evidence that there is significant variation in the income elasticities across the energy expenditure distribution and that care must be taken when using the constant mean elasticity for policy purposes. More specifically, any examination of the future impact of a change in income support policy measures on energy consumption should recognize the substantial context-dependent variation in the income elasticity.     

Import prices and the distribution of personal income

An indirect translog utility function is estimated for U.S. expenditure on domestically produced non-durables, durables, services and consumer imports. Empirical tests lead to the rejection of homogeneity and linear logarithmic utility as valid functional forms. Estimates of expenditure elasticities indicate that imported varieties of consumer goods are luxuries. An exogenous decrease in the price of these goods, which would occur when tariff barriers are relaxed, would be especially beneficial to upper income consumers. Finally, a redistribution of expenditure from upper income consumers to lower income consumers will increase expenditure on domestically produced goods and reduce expenditure on consumer imports.     

Does the distinction between gross and value‐added exports matter? An empirical investigation of export elasticities

This study uses bilateral U.S. export data from the OECD’s Trade in Value‐Added database to estimate and compare elasticities for three distinct export measures: conventional measures of gross exports, domestic value added in gross exports, and value‐added exports. It finds little evidence of significant differences in the income elasticities across the three export measures or in the price elasticities of gross exports and domestic value added in gross exports. However it finds a significantly higher price elasticity for value‐added exports, suggesting that conventional price elasticity estimates may underestimate the impact of a real dollar depreciation on U.S. exports of value added.     

City size and household food consumption: demand elasticities in Spain

Are food price elasticities different across city sizes? The aim of this article is to estimate expenditure and own-price elasticities for 10 aggregated food product groups using the Spanish Household Budget Survey for the year 2010. These products are the ones for which the survey provides information regarding prices and quantities, thus allowing the application of an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) model with censored data. The estimation procedure allows not only comparisons to be made among households with different levels of income, but also the contribution of residence characteristics to variations in demand. The results confirm that the size of the city in which the household resides has a similar significant and relevant effect on consumption patterns as family income level. This is especially clear with own-price elasticities. In Spain, large central cities show a greater response to price changes than smaller cities or rural peripheral areas.     

Prices,poaching, and protein alternatives: An analysis of bushmeat consumption around Serengeti National Park,Tanzania

The consumption of meat from wild animals (or bushmeat) occurs throughout Africa and highlights the conflict between two distinct development goals: food security and biodiversity conservation. Growing human populations throughout the greater Serengeti ecosystem rely heavily on bushmeat as a source of protein, which places pressure on migratory wildlife populations. This paper uses unique data from protein consumption surveys from 131 households over 34 months in a generalizable empirical framework to estimate price, cross-price, and expenditure elasticities of protein sources, and analyze the potential economic effects of policies to mitigate bushmeat hunting and consumption. Results suggest that: (1) directly increasing the price of bushmeat through enforcement or other policies to reduce supply will have the most direct and largest effect of bushmeat consumption; (2) increasing income increases bushmeat consumption as well as consumption of other meat sources; (3) if surrounding fisheries experience a negative shock, or collapse, this will lead to a dramatic increase in bushmeat consumption. Overall, these results strongly indicate that policies to reduce bushmeat hunting while maintaining food security must be considered in a broad and comprehensive framework.     

Town size and the consumer behaviour of Spanish households: a panel data approach

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effect of town size on the Spanish demand for food. The methodological approach followed in the study is to use panel data built from the Spanish Quarterly National Expenditure Survey to estimate a demand system. The use of this type of data allows control for unobserved time invariant heterogeneity as well as to take into account the time and the cross-section dimension of data. Four locations are distinguished: (1) less than 10000 inhabitants; (2) between 10000 and 100000 inhabitants; (3) between 100000 and 500000 inhabitants; and (4) more than 500000 inhabitants. Eight broad food categories are considered: (1) cereals and potatoes; (2) meat; (3) fish; (4) dairy products; (5) fats and oils; (6) fruits; (7) vegetables; and (8) other food. Income and price elasticities are calculated for each location. In general terms, two general conclusions can be drawn. First, results indicate that only slight changes in tastes have taken place during the analysed period; second, income and price elasticities use to decrease as town size increases.     

Can China’s meat imports be sustainable? A case study of mad cow disease

Rising demand and constrained domestic production have challenged the meat consumption in China. To fill the gap between domestic demand and supply, China imports an increasing volume of meat products from the international market. However, outbreaks of animal diseases can jeopardize China’s ability to meet its need for consumable meat. This article investigates the impact of animal disease outbreaks on the sustainability of China’s meat imports by using the episode of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United States in 2003 as a case study. Our results show that China’s meat imports are becoming more diversified and sustainable. The outbreak did have significant negative impacts on beef imports from the United States. During the epidemic, not only was China able to increase beef imports from other major exporters, but it also increased imports of other animal products such as edible offal and pork. Our findings indicate that international trade can serve as a reliable source to meet China’s soaring meat consumption.     

The exchange rate pass-through into import prices: the case of Japanese meat imports

Japan is a traditional net importer of food products in general and meat products in particular. Japanese meat imports come from a few countries thus making Japan potentially very sensitive to the swings in one or a few bilateral exchange rates. One of the key contributions of this article is the use of commodity (meats in this case) imports weighted exchange rates in the analysis. The standard practice in previous international agricultural trade studies related to either exchange rate pass-through or pricing to market was to use the aggregate trade weighted exchange rates usually provided by the Central Bank authorities or sources. Beef and poultry import prices indicate partial exchange rate pass-through while import prices of pork indicate zero exchange rate pass-through, primarily due to gate price policy system applied to pork imports. In terms of competitiveness, these results suggest relatively more competitive markets among poultry importing firms, somewhat competitive markets among beef importing firms, while competitiveness of pork importing firms could not be assessed due to existing import policies.     

Food expenditures and household demographic composition in the US: a demand systems approach

Food expenditures and subsistence quantities of poverty status and non–poverty status US households are analysed within a Linear Expenditure System that postulates subsistence quantities to be linear combinations of demographic variables. Using the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' 1992 Consumer Expenditure Survey and Detailed Monthly Consumer Price Indices, this article obtains expenditure elasticities, own–price elasticities and subsistence quantities for each income group across nine broadly aggregated food commodity groups. Elasticity estimates and subsistence quantity estimates differ across income groups, supporting the premise that policies targeted at specific income groups should be based on the target group's elasticity estimates rather than average population elasticities. Parameter estimates are then used to simulate how subsistence quantities and own–price elasticities can be expected to vary according to the demographic composition of the household within a specific income group.     

Manufacturing consumption,relative prices,and productivity

I study the patterns of manufacturing consumption expenditures across a broad set of countries that differ in their level of development using disaggregated expenditure and price data. The relative price of manufacturing tends to decline with income and the real share rises with income, particularly for countries in the top half of the income distribution. I find that the nominal expenditure share of manufacturing displays a hump-shape pattern with respect to the level of income per capita. I document that the income elasticities of the relative price of individual manufacturing categories lie in a wide range. However, since most categories have a negative elasticity, the average elasticity for manufacturing is negative. In addition, most aggregations of individual categories, regardless of the criteria used, yield manufacturing sub-sectors that feature a negative income elasticity of its relative price and the variation across income in nominal expenditure shares tends to mask a larger variation across income in real shares. Using a standard development accounting framework, I report large differences in productivity across countries for manufacturing categories. I also find some differences in productivity across countries for manufacturing sub-sectors, but these differences are smaller than the differences between manufacturing and services and considerably smaller than the differences across individual manufacturing categories.     

More or better? Measuring quality versus quantity in food consumption

As people become richer they get the opportunity of consuming more but also qualitatively better goods. This holds for a basic commodity like food as well. We investigate food consumption in Russia, taking into account both expenditure and nutrition value in terms of calories. We analyse how food consumption patterns change with increasing income by considering both “quantity Engel curves” and “quality Engel curves.” The former describe the functional dependence of calories consumed on total expenditure. The latter trace out the dependence of unit value per calorie on total expenditure. We compare income elasticities of quantity with income elasticities of unit value and quality. In Russian household survey data for years 2000–2002 the reaction of quality to income changes is significantly stronger than the reaction of quantity to income changes suggesting that Russian households tend to choose higher quality food items as income rises.     

THE BUILT-IN FLEXIBILITY OF INCOME AND CONSUMPTION TAXES IN NEW ZEALAND

This paper provides estimates of individual and aggregate revenue elasticities of income and consumption taxes in New Zealand, based on the 2001 tax structure and expenditure patterns. Using analytical expressions for revenue elasticities at the individual and aggregate levels, together with a simulated income distribution, values for New Zealand were obtained. Results using equi-proportional income changes suggest that the aggregate income and consumption tax revenue elasticities are both fairly constant as mean income increases, at around 1.3 and 0.95 respectively. This latter estimate assumes that increases in disposable income are accompanied by approximately proportional increases in total expenditure. If there is a tendency for the savings proportion to increase as disposable income increases, a somewhat lower total consumption tax revenue elasticity, of around 0.9, is obtained for 2001 income levels. However, non-equiproportional income changes are more realistic. Allowing for regression towards the geometric mean income reduces these elasticities, giving an elasticity for income and consumption taxes combined that is only slightly above unity. Examination of the tax-share weighted expenditure elasticities for various goods also revealed that, despite the adoption of a broad based GST at a uniform rate in New Zealand, the persistence of various excises has an important effect on the overall consumption tax revenue elasticity, especially for individuals at relatively low income levels.     

Rebalancing through expenditure and price changes

This paper puts forth a Neo-Kaleckian open economy model of two countries in order to investigate adjustment of US–China external imbalances. First, a stylized fixed mark-up model is presented, and discussed based on graphical analysis. Second, we present estimates of bilateral income and price elasticities of imports. Third, we employ the model for simulation analysis. Specifically, we randomly distribute expenditure change across government, investment and imports and calculate the exchange rate change necessary to lead to an equal change in the bilateral external imbalance. Doing so repeatedly allows us to estimate probability distributions of endogenous variable changes.