IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v61y2020ics1043951x2030050x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimating flexible consumption functions for urban and rural households in China

Author

Listed:
  • Cao, Jing
  • Ho, Mun S.
  • Hu, Wenhao
  • Jorgenson, Dale

Abstract

There are few comprehensive studies of household consumption in China that covers all commodities due to data restrictions. This prevents the calculation of inequality indices based on consumption. This lack of coverage also makes analysis of policies that affect consumption difficult; economy-wide models used for analysis often have to employ simple consumption forms with unit income elasticities. We estimate a translog demand system distinguished by demographic characteristics, giving price and income elasticities that should be useful for policy analysis. We estimate separate functions for urban and rural households using household expenditure data and detailed commodity prices (1995–2006). This allows future analysis of social welfare and inequality based on consumption to supplement existing studies based on income. To illustrate an application of the model, we project consumption composition based on projected prices, incomes and demographic changes – aging, education improvement and urbanization.

Suggested Citation

  • Cao, Jing & Ho, Mun S. & Hu, Wenhao & Jorgenson, Dale, 2020. "Estimating flexible consumption functions for urban and rural households in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:61:y:2020:i:c:s1043951x2030050x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2020.101453
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X2030050X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2020.101453?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vardges Hovhannisyan & Brian W. Gould, 2014. "Structural change in urban Chinese food preferences," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(2), pages 159-166, March.
    2. Cai, Jing & Jiang, Zhigang, 2008. "Changing of energy consumption patterns from rural households to urban households in China: An example from Shaanxi Province, China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 1667-1680, August.
    3. Jing Cao, Mun S. Ho, and Huifang Liang, 2016. "Household energy demand in Urban China: Accounting for regional prices and rapid income change," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(China Spe).
    4. Ray, Ranjan, 1982. "The testing and estimation of complete demand systems on household budget surveys," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 349-369.
    5. Slesnick, Daniel T., 2002. "Prices and Regional Variation in Welfare," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 446-468, May.
    6. Terry Sicular & Yue Ximing & Björn Gustafsson & Li Shi, 2007. "The Urban–Rural Income Gap And Inequality In China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 53(1), pages 93-126, March.
    7. Jorgenson, Dale W & Slesnick, Daniel T, 1987. "Aggregate Consumer Behavior and Household Equivalence Scales," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 5(2), pages 219-232, April.
    8. Richard Blundell & Luigi Pistaferri & Itay Saporta-Eksten, 2016. "Consumption Inequality and Family Labor Supply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(2), pages 387-435, February.
    9. Deaton,Angus & Muellbauer,John, 1980. "Economics and Consumer Behavior," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521296762, October.
    10. Lau, Lawrence J., 1982. "A note on the fundamental theorem of exact aggregation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 119-126.
    11. Shenggen Fan & Eric J. Wailes & Gail L. Cramer, 1995. "Household Demand in Rural China: A Two-Stage LES-AIDS Model," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 77(1), pages 54-62.
    12. Yen, Steven T. & Fang, Cheng & Su, Shew-Jiuan, 2004. "Household food demand in urban China: a censored system approach," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 564-585, September.
    13. David L. Ortega & H. Holly Wang & James S. Eales, 2009. "Meat demand in China," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 1(4), pages 410-419, August.
    14. Brandt, Loren & Holz, Carsten A, 2006. "Spatial Price Differences in China: Estimates and Implications," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(1), pages 43-86, October.
    15. Yuyu Chen & Weibo Xing, 2016. "Quantity, Quality, and Regional Price Variation of Cigarettes: Demand Analysis Based on a Household Survey in China," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Teh-wei Hu (ed.), Economics of Tobacco Control in China From Policy Research to Practice, chapter 5, pages 61-87, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    16. Jorgenson, Dale W. & Slesnick, Daniel T., 2008. "Consumption and labor supply," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 326-335, December.
    17. Holt, Matthew T. & Goodwin, Barry K., 2009. "The Almost Ideal and Translog Demand Systems," MPRA Paper 15092, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Dale W. Jorgenson & Lawrence J. Lau, 1975. "The Structure of Consumer Preferences," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 4, number 1, pages 49-101, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Dennis Tao Yang, 1999. "Urban-Biased Policies and Rising Income Inequality in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 306-310, May.
    20. Jonathan D. Fisher & David S. Johnson & Timothy M. Smeeding & Jeffrey P. Thompson, 2022. "Inequality in 3‐D: Income, Consumption, and Wealth," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(1), pages 16-42, March.
    21. Blanciforti, Laura Ann & Green, Richard D. & King, Gordon A., 1986. "U.S. Consumer Behavior over the Postwar Period: An Almost Ideal Demand System Analysis," Monographs, University of California, Davis, Giannini Foundation, number 11939, December.
    22. Moschini, Giancarlo, 1999. "Imposing Local Curvature Conditions in Flexible Demand Systems," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 17(4), pages 487-490, October.
    23. Shi Li & Chuliang Luo & Terry Sicular, 2011. "Overview: Income Inequality and Poverty in China, 2002-2007," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 201110, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    24. Sun, Chuanwang & Ouyang, Xiaoling, 2016. "Price and expenditure elasticities of residential energy demand during urbanization: An empirical analysis based on the household-level survey data in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 56-63.
    25. Muellbauer, John, 1977. "Testing the Barten Model of Household Composition Effects and the Cost of Children," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 87(347), pages 460-487, September.
    26. Kanbur, Ravi & Zhang, Xiaobo, 1999. "Which Regional Inequality? The Evolution of Rural-Urban and Inland-Coastal Inequality in China from 1983 to 1995," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 686-701, December.
    27. Baichen Jiang & John Davis, 2007. "Household food demand in rural China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 373-380.
    28. Orazio P. Attanasio & Luigi Pistaferri, 2016. "Consumption Inequality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 3-28, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. An, Kangxin & Zhang, Shihui & Huang, Hai & Liu, Yuan & Cai, Wenjia & Wang, Can, 2021. "Socioeconomic impacts of household participation in emission trading scheme: A Computable General Equilibrium-based case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    2. Rui Zhou, 2022. "Sustainable Economic Development, Digital Payment, and Consumer Demand: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-20, July.
    3. Xunpeng Shi & Tsun Se Cheong & Jian Yu & Xiaoguang Liu, 2021. "Quality of Life and Relative Household Energy Consumption in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 29(5), pages 127-147, September.
    4. Luca Secondi, 2021. "Estimating Household Consumption Expenditure at Local Level In Italy: The Potential of the Cokriging Spatial Predictor," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 651-674, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jing Cao & Mun Sing Ho & Wenhao Hu & Dale Jorgenson, 2021. "Urban household consumption in China: Price, income, and demographic effects," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 810-833, May.
    2. Jing You, 2014. "Dietary change, nutrient transition and food security in fast-growing China," Chapters, in: Raghbendra Jha & Raghav Gaiha & Anil B. Deolalikar (ed.), Handbook on Food, chapter 9, pages 204-245, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Zhao, Da & Wu, Tianhao & He, Qiwei, 2017. "Consumption inequality and its evolution in urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 208-228.
    4. Jing Cao, Mun S. Ho, and Huifang Liang, 2016. "Household energy demand in Urban China: Accounting for regional prices and rapid income change," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(China Spe).
    5. De Zhou & Xiaohua Yu & Thomas Herzfeld, 2015. "Dynamic food demand in urban China," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(1), pages 27-44, February.
    6. Iris Claus & Les Oxley & Chen Wang & Guanghua Wan & Dan Yang, 2014. "Income Inequality In The People'S Republic Of China: Trends, Determinants, And Proposed Remedies," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 686-708, September.
    7. Kesavan, Thulasiram, 1988. "Monte Carlo experiments of market demand theory," ISU General Staff Papers 198801010800009854, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    8. Hu, Wenhao & Ho, Mun S. & Cao, Jing, 2019. "Energy consumption of urban households in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    9. Lichner, Ivan & Lyócsa, Štefan & Výrostová, Eva, 2022. "Nominal and discretionary household income convergence: The effect of a crisis in a small open economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 18-31.
    10. Martin Browning & Pierre-André Chiappori & Arthur Lewbel, 2013. "Estimating Consumption Economies of Scale, Adult Equivalence Scales, and Household Bargaining Power," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 80(4), pages 1267-1303.
    11. Zhou, De & Yu, Xiaohua & Abler, David & Chen, Danhong, 2020. "Projecting meat and cereals demand for China based on a meta-analysis of income elasticities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    12. Almås, Ingvild & Johnsen, Åshild Auglænd, 2012. "The cost of living in China: Implications for inequality and poverty," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 21/2012, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    13. Jean-Michel Grandmont, 2017. "Behavioral Heterogeneity : Pareto Distributions of Homothetic Preference Scales and Aggregate Expenditures Income Elasticities," Working Papers 2017-11, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    14. Pretnar, Nick, 2022. "Measuring Inequality with Consumption Time," MPRA Paper 118168, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Martina Menon & Federico Perali & Ranjan Ray & Nicola Tommasi, 2019. "The Tale of the Two Italies: Regional Price Parities Accounting for Differences in the Quality of Services," Working Papers 20/2019, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    16. Amna Ejaz & Haseeb Ali & Mubarik Ali & Umar Farooq, 2016. "Combating Nutrient Deficiency in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 921-943.
    17. Bhat, Chandra R. & Castro, Marisol & Pinjari, Abdul Rawoof, 2015. "Allowing for complementarity and rich substitution patterns in multiple discrete–continuous models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 59-77.
    18. Kim, Chiho, 1987. "The demand for domestic services, capital services, wife's home time, and other inputs: an econometric analysis of technical and other changes affecting U.S. households, 1900-1985," ISU General Staff Papers 1987010108000012697, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    19. Raül Santaeulàlia-Llopis & Yu Zheng, 2017. "Why Is Food Consumption Inequality Underestimated? A Story of Vices and Children," Working Papers 969, Barcelona School of Economics.
    20. Yu, Jian & Shi, Xunpeng & Cheong, Tsun Se, 2021. "Distribution dynamics of China's household consumption upgrading," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 193-203.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumption demand functions; China; households;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • R22 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Other Demand

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:61:y:2020:i:c:s1043951x2030050x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.