A Sample Selection Approach to Censored Demand Systems

The multivariate sample selection model is extended to a nonlinear equation system with partial selection and applied to household meat consumption in China. Elasticity estimates differ from those obtained from conventional maximum likelihood and Tobit estimates. Chinese meat products are gross complements while net substitution also exists in some cases.     

A Hedonic Analysis of Fresh Tomato Prices among Regional Markets

This study uses the 2004 ACNielsen Homescan panel data to estimate the price premiums and discounts associated with fresh tomatoes among regional markets, focusing on the organic attribute. The results suggest that consumers paid $0.25/lb more for organic fresh tomatoes in the New York–Philadelphia market. The organic premiums are estimated to be $0.14/lb in the Chicago–Baltimore/Washington and Los Angeles–San Francisco markets and $0.29/lb in the Atlanta–San Antonio market. Furthermore, tomato prices consumers paid in 2004 varied by household characteristics, including income, age, and the race and ethnicity of the head of the household.     

Changes in the propensity of overweight US women to under-assess their body weight status

National data indicate that there was almost no change in the accuracy of body weight assessments of overweight women over the past 20 years. The accuracy in weight assessment is influenced by a number of social-demographic and economic factors; many of them have opposite effects and cancel out each other. This paper examines changes in misperception of body weight among overweight women in the United States, using data from the 1988–1994 and 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Changes in characteristics of the population, such as the increased share of Hispanics in the US population, between these two time periods explain only a small portion of the changes in the accuracy of body weight assessment. Most of the differences come from changes in the association between population characteristics and the likelihood an overweight woman underestimates her weight status. Results also indicate that overweight women who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamp Program) are consistently more likely to misperceive themselves as healthy weight or underweight than higher income overweight women.     

Import Demands for Norwegian Farmed Atlantic Salmon and Wild Pacific Salmon in North America,Japan and the EC

Import demands for Atlantic and Pacific salmon are estimated for Japan, the European Community and North America. Cross-price elasticities indicate that wild high-valued Pacific salmon (chinook. coho and sockeye) and farmed Atlantic salmon are substitute goods in the marketplace. This finding implies that movements in the prices of both fanned and wild salmon can be caused by supply or demand changes in the market for either type of salmon. This result in turn has important implications for future markets and prices of fanned and wild salmon in Canada and the United States La demande à l'importation pour le saunion de l'Atlantique et du Pacifique esl eslimée pour le Japon, la CEE et l'Amerique du Nord. Les valeurs d'elaslicité croisée montrenl que le saumon “sauvage” du Pacifique hautement prisé (chinook, coho et sockeve) et le saumon d'elevage de l'Atlantique peuvent se substituer l'un à l'autre sur le manhé. Cette consultation signifie quedes mouvements dans les prix des deux types de saunion peuvent étre causés par des fluctuation de l'offre et de la demande affectant l'un ou l'autre type. Cela comporte d'imponantes répercussions pour I'avenir sur le manhé el sur les prix du saumon tant sauvage que d‘élevage au Canada et aux États-Unis     

National Demand for Fresh Organic and Conventional Vegetables: Scanner Data Evidence

Using AC Nielsen scanner data on U.S. household consumption of selected fresh vegetables from 1999 to 2003, this study provides an overview of the organic fresh vegetable market by investigating market shares and price premiums of selected organic fresh vegetables and estimating the interrelationship between consumer demand for organic and conventional fresh vegetables. The linear Almost Ideal Demand System was found to fit the data best among alternative demand models. Expenditure, own, and cross price elasticities were computed for both organic and conventional vegetables based on the best fitting model.     

Consumer knowledge and meat consumption at home and away from home

We investigate the roles of consumer knowledge and sociodemographic factors in the consumption of meat products at home and away from home. Censored dependent variables and endogenous dietary knowledge are accommodated by developing and estimating a simultaneous-equations system. Results suggest endogeneity of knowledge and support the system approach to demand functions for meat products. Dietary knowledge decreases consumption of beef and pork at home and away from home but does not affect poultry or fish consumption in either location. Men eat more meat and fish than women, meat consumption declines with age, and regional and racial/ethnic differences are present.     

The Demand and Supply of Norwegian Atlantic Salmon in the United States and the European Community

A simultaneous-equation model of the demand and supply of Norwegian Atlantic salmon in the United States and the European Community is constructed, and sensitivity analyses are conducted to measure the effects of changing exchange rates, the Norwegian supply of Atlantic salmon, and prices of North American Pacific salmon. Using monthly statistics from January 1983 through March 1987, the demand for Norwegian Atlantic salmon is found to be highly seasonal, and highly price and income elastic in the United States and the European Community. Chinook is found to be a weak substitute for Norwegian Atlantic salmon in the U.S., and frozen chinook, sockeye and coho in the European Community are also found to be weak substitutes for Norwegian Atlantic salmon. Nous avons élaboré un modéle à équations simultanées de la demande et de ?approvisionnement pour le saumon de ?Atlantique provenant de Norvège, aux États-Unis et dans la Communauté européenne, et nous avons precédé à des analyses de sensibilité afin de mesurer les effets de la variation des taux de change, des approvisionnements de saumon de ?Atlantique de Norvège et des prix du saumon du Pacifique provenant ?Amérique du Nord. En nous fondant sur les statistiques mensuelles recueillies de Janvier 1983 à mars 1987, nous avons constaté que la demande de saumon de ?Atlantique provenant de Norvège est extrêmement saisonnière et qu'elle est élastique par rapport aux prix et aux revenus, aux États-Unis et dans la Communauté européenne. Le saumon quinnat (chinook) s'est avéré un piètre produit de remplacement du saumon de ?Atlantique provenant de Norvège dans la Communauté européenne.     

Quasi- and Simulated-Likelihood Approaches to Censored Demand Systems: Food Consumption by Food Stamp Recipients in the United States

A quasi-maximum-likelihood estimator is proposed and applied to a censored Translog demand system for foods, using a sample of food stamp recipients in the United States. The procedure produces remarkably close parameter and elasticity estimates to those of the simulated-maximum-likelihood procedure. A two-step procedure is also considered but it produces different elasticities. Demands are found to be price elastic for pork and fish but price inelastic for all other food products. Gross complementarity and net substitutability are obvious but these cross-price effects are much less pronounced than own-price and total food expenditure effects.     

Japanese Barley Imports: Implications of the 1988 Japanese Beef Market Access Agreement

A two-stage budgeting procedure is employed to analyze the Japanese import demand for barley and the allocation of Japanese barley imports between North America (Canada and the United States) and Australia. It is found that the import demand for barley is price inelastic and that corn is a substitute for barley. Japanese barley imports are also influenced by size of the cattle herd and the number of cattle slaughtered. Price competition plays a significant role in import allocation, and budget shares of the two suppliers are proportional to total import expenditure. Since April 1991, import quotas and the involvement of the Livestock Industry Promotion Corporation (a quasi-government agency) in the Japanese beef trade have been replaced with higher tariffs and direct negotiations between traders. These changes promise easier access to the Japanese beef market and have been predicted to exert adverse impacts on the Japanese cattle industry. Different responses of the Japanese cattle industry under trade liberalization are assumed and are combined with the estimated econometric models to forecast Japanese barley imports in total and by country of origin. The effect of a reduced price for North American barley is also investigated, since reduced total imports under trade liberalization may intensify price competition. Une procédure budgétaire en deux étapes permet d'analyser la demande d'orge à l'importation au Japon et l'allocation des importations japanaises d'orge entre l'Amérique du Nord (le Canada et les Etats-Unis) et l'Australie. Les résultats indiquent que la demande d'orge à l'importation est inélastique par rapport au prix et que le maïs est un substitut pour l'orge. Les importations japonaises d'orge sont aussi fonction de la taille du troupeau global au Japon et du nombre d'animaux abattus. La concurrence par les prix joue un rôle important dans l'allocation des importations entre les deux pays. De plus, les parts du budget allouées aux deux zones fournisseurs sont proportionnelles à la dépense total sur les importations. Depuis avril 1991, les quotas à l'importation et l'implication de la corporation para-étatique (Livestock Industry Promotion Corporation) dans le commerce japonais du boeuf ont été remplacés par des tarifs plus élevés et des négotiations directes entre les commercants du marché international. Ces modifications devraient faciliter l'accès au marché japonais du boeufet tel qu'attendu pourront avoir des effets néfastes sur le secteur bovin japonais. Plusieurs scénarios simulant la réponse de l'industrie bovine japonaise à la libéralisation des échanges sont proposés et sont utilisés en conjonction avec un modèle économétrique pour effectuer des prévisions du niveau total des importations d'orge au Japon ainsi que le pays d'origine de celles-ci. L'impact d'une réduction du prix de l'orge en Amérique du Nord est aussi considéré, puisqu'une réduction des importations totales suite à la libéralisation des échanges pourrait intensifier la concurrence par les prix.