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Meat Consumption, Dietary Structure and Nutrition Transition in China

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  • Luo, Hengrong
  • Yu, Xiaohua

Abstract

Nutrition transition is driven by quantity increase and structural change in food consumption. Particularly, meat consumption plays an important role. This study proposes a simple but innovative method to empirically decompose the total income effect on nutrition improvement into direct income effect and structural change effect, mediated by meat consumption share. With the use of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data, we find that a 1% increment in income will boost per capita calorie consumption by 0.02% within a family. The calories elasticity with respect to income is very small. However, 16 to 21% of the increase is due to dietary structural change, while the rest part is attributed to the conditional income effect. In addition, the dietary structural change effect is more prominent in the rural region, which implies a rural-urban gap in the diet.

Suggested Citation

  • Luo, Hengrong & Yu, Xiaohua, 2020. "Meat Consumption, Dietary Structure and Nutrition Transition in China," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 305415, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:gagfdp:305415
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.305415
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaohua Yu & David Abler, 2009. "The Demand for Food Quality in Rural China," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(1), pages 57-69.
    2. De Zhou & Xiaohua Yu, 2015. "Calorie Elasticities with Income Dynamics: Evidence from the Literature," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 37(4), pages 575-601.
    3. Xu Tian & Xiaohua Yu, 2013. "The Demand for Nutrients in China," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 8(2), pages 186-206, June.
    4. Zhou, De & Yu, Xiaohua & Herzfeld, Thomas, 2015. "Dynamic food demand in urban China," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 27-44.
    5. 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).
    6. Tian, Xu & Yu, Xiaohua, 2015. "Using semiparametric models to study nutrition improvement and dietary change with different indices: The case of China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 67-81.
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    Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety;

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