Why Does the Engel Method Work? Food Demand, Economies of Size and Household Survey Methods

John Gibson

Working Papers in Economics from University of Waikato

Abstract: Estimates of household size economies are needed for the analysis of poverty and inequality. This paper shows that Engel estimates of size economies are large when household expenditures are obtained by respondent recall but small when expenditures are obtained by daily recording in diaries. Expenditure estimates from recall surveys appear to have measurement errors correlated with household size. As well as demonstrating the fragility of Engel estimates of size economies, these results help resolve a puzzle raised by Deaton and Paxson (1998) about differences between rich and poor countries in the effect of household size on food demand.

Keywords: food demand; economies of size; household surveys; measurement error (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C81 I32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2002-01-30
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv
Note: Published in "Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics", 64(4) September 2002, pp.341-59.
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (54)

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Journal Article: Why Does the Engel Method Work? Food Demand, Economies of Size and Household Survey Methods (2002)
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