Jonq-Ying Lee

Model Choice in Consumer Analysis: Taiwan, 1970–89

Expenditure data were used to study how income and prices influenced consumer demand in Taiwan during the last decade. Alternative differential demand models combining the features of the Rotterdam model and the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) were tested. AIDS-type demand responses describe Taiwanese consumer behavior better than do the other specifications.

Food Expenditures at Home and Away from Home in the United States-A Switching Regression Analysis

The results of this study showed that the decision to eat away from home was positively affected by income while the amount spent away from home was only affected by income, again positively, at higher levels of household income. Food expenditures at home were similarly affected by income only at higher levels of household income provided the household also ate away from home. If the household did not eat away from home, food expenditures at home were positively affected by income at all levels, the effect decreasing in magnitude with the level of income. A SIGNIFICANT economic trend in recent )&Vdecades is the declining share of consumer expenditures on food. Expenditures for food fell steadily from 20.0% of disposable personal income in 1960 to 16.1% in the third quarter of 1983 (USDA). This drop occurred as a result of a decline in the share of consumer expenditures on food purchased for consumption at home. The share of consumer expenditures on meals purchased at restaurants, cafeterias, and fast food chains remained constant at about 4% of disposable personal income. Hence the consumption of purchased meals away from home has become more important relative to food consumed at home. A number of studies on food consumption at home and away from home have been made. Houthakker and Taylor (1970) obtained results that indicate away from home food expenditures were more responsive to total consumption expenditures than at home expenditures based on 1960-61 household budget data. Time-series data were also employed by Houthakker and Taylor to investigate the dynamics of food consumption. Prochaska and Schrimper (1973) found that along with income the opportunity cost of time is an important factor in determining away from home food consumption. Fishe et al. (1979), employing simple and heteroscedastic Tobit models, found that income and household specific circumstances are important determinants of restaurant expenditures. Lamm (1982) estimated a translog demand system for food consumed at home, purchased meals, and non-food items. His results indicated that consumers have been eating away from home more often primarily as a result of increases in their incomes. Recently, Huang and Raunikar (1984) estimated Engel equations for at home and away from home food expenditures using ordinary least squares and Tobit regressions, respectively. In their study Huang and Raunikar found that, in general, at home food consumption is less income responsive than away from home food consumption. The major objective of Huang and Raunikars study was to investigate the importance to household food expenditures of consigned income for committed expenditures. This study further investigates food consumption at home and away from home employing a switching regression model. The same basic data analyzed by Huang and Rauniker (HR) are also analyzed here. However, since the HR study focused on consigned income, households not reporting complete information with regard to committed expenditures, e.g., rent or mortgage, or after-tax income, were not included in their study. In this study, the emphasis is placed on the households choice of whether to eat out and the factors affecting consequent away from home and at home food expenditures. The sample includes all households that reported before-tax income and is significantly larger than the sample used in the HR study.

Consumer Demand for Food Diversity

In this paper, consumer demand for food diversity is measured by the entropy and Simpson indices for budget shares. Results show that consumer demand for food diversity is related to total food expenditures and household size and composition.

The Demand for Varied Diet with Econometric Models for Count Data

A negative binomial model was used to study the relationships between food expenditures, household characteristics, and the demand for different food items. The results show that increases in food expenditure increase the number of food items consumed at home, and the number of food items consumed at home is positively related to increases in the number of household members. This change in the number of food items consumed at home increases at a decreasing rate as household size increases and becomes negative when household size becomes large.

Coupon Redemption and the Demand for Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice: A Switching Regression Analysis

A switching regression model was estimated and used to study the impact of Florida Department of Citrus coupon promotional programs on the demand for frozen concentrated orange juice. The empirical results show that discounts and information provided by coupons were effective in increasing the demand for FCOJ, and that the FDOCs coupon programs had positive impacts on the probability of using coupons for purchasing FCOJ. Moreover, different types of coupon promotions had different impacts, and coupon users and nonusers demonstrated different degrees of response to price changes.

Demand relationships among fresh fruit and juices in Canada

This paper considers an application of the differential approach to Canadian fresh fruit and juice demand for the time period from 1960 through 1987. Results show that if Canadian consumers were to allocate larger portions of their budgets to the consumption of fresh fruit and juices, expenditure shares on oranges and apples would increase, with fresh oranges benefitting the most. Furthermore, results show that oranges and grapefruit are substitutes for apples; therefore, an increase in the price of fresh apples would increase the consumption of citrus; thus, increasing citrus imports.

DEMAND RELATIONSHIPS AMONG JUICE BEVERAGES: A DIFFERENTIAL DEMAND SYSTEM APPROACH

Nielsen ScanTrack data were used to study how income and prices influenced consumer juice beverage demand in the United States during the period from 1988-89 through 1991-92. Alternative differential demand models combining the features of the Rotterdam model and the almost ideal demand system (AIDS) were tested. Results indicate the CBS type demand responses describe consumer behavior better than the other specifications for this particular data. set.

Consumer demand for diet quality: evidence from the healthy eating index

Few studies have been performed to use the detailed healthy eating index (HEI) to estimate consumer demand for diet quality. In this article, we apply household production theory to systematically estimate consumer demand for diet quality using the HEI developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The results show that consumers have insufficient consumption of food containing dark green and orange vegetables, legumes and whole grains. Age and education have a significant impact on consumer demand for diet quality, but income does not. The own-price elasticities of demand for diet quality are inelastic. Simulation of tax scenarios indicates that a tax on sugar-sweetened beverage may be more efficient than a tax on fats, oils and salad dressing in improving consumer diet quality. This information is critical for policies and programs that are designed to improve healthy food choices, thereby reducing the social cost of public health.

A Study of the Demand for Convenience Food

A variation of the household production theory was used to select relevant explanatory variables for the demand for convenience foods. A convenience food index was used to measure the convenience in food preparation. Because of the nature of the measure of convenience, the Tobit regression technique was used to examine the importance of these explanatory variables to the demand for convenience foods. Results show that the presence of children in a household increases the demand for convenience, especially in those households that have children of different age groups. Results show that the number of end dishes eaten is positively related to the demand for convenience foods and primary users of convenience foods are non-black, single, and higher income respondents.

A Uniform Substitute Demand Model with Varying Coefficients

This study extends Bartens synthetic demand modeling approach to increase the flexibility of the uniform substitute specification of the Rotterdam demand system. Marginal propensities to consume (MPC) vary with budget shares and Slutsky coefficients are defined in terms of varying MPCs. An application of the model to orange-juice products shows that the pattern of income and price elasticities over time is much different than when MPCs are restricted to be constant.