Tastes, Geography and Culture

Eve Colson-Sihra, Jose De Sousa and Thierry Mayer

No 20563, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Does geography shape tastes? This paper investigates the geography of tastes using French household surveys from 1974 and 2005. We propose a two-step method: first, we estimate regional tastes using a structural demand system; then, we compute bilateral taste differences and link them to geographic distance. The 1974 results provide evidence of ‘gravity in taste’ — that is, geographically closer regions have more similar food tastes. By 2005, this geographic pattern has largely disappeared. However, tastes are not homogenized. Regional diversity persists, with differences in taste determined by sociocultural similarity rather than geographic distance.

Keywords: Tastes; Geography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 R10 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-08
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