Consumer demand for carbohydrates: A look across products and income classes

Eugene Jones
Additional contact information
Eugene Jones: Department of Agricultural Economics, 2120 Fyffe Road, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1067, Postal: Department of Agricultural Economics, 2120 Fyffe Road, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1067

Agribusiness, 1997, vol. 13, issue 6, 599-612

Abstract: Many researchers have used Nationwide Food Consumption Survey (NFCS) data to estimate price and expenditure elasticities for various food groups. Results reported by these researchers have shown own-price elasticities to be negative, inelastic, and statistically significant; cross-price and expenditure elasticities have been shown to be positive and statistically significant. Further, some researchers have used NFCS data to try and estimate differential price responses of lower and higher income groups, and these authors have found no statistically significant differences in the magnitude of own-price elasticities. This study, using supermarket scanner data for several carbohydrates, finds significant differences in the price sensitivity of lower and higher income groups. These differences, however, are reflected more in purchase selections than in the magnitude of own-price elasticities. Also, regardless of income status, most expenditure and own-price elasticities are found to be elastic and statistically significant, and most cross-price elasticities are found to be positive and statistically insignificant. An important conclusion of this study is that the elasticities reported here provide a more accurate measure of consumer behavior than those reported in studies using NFCS data. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Date: 1997
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:agribz:v:13:y:1997:i:6:p:599-612

DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6297(199711/12)13:6<599::AID-AGR5>3.0.CO;2-Z

Access Statistics for this article

Agribusiness is currently edited by Ronald W. Cotterill

More articles in Agribusiness from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().