IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/esi/evopap/2012-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The History of an Inferior Good: Beer Consumption in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin Volland

Abstract

The question whether alcohol in general, and different types of alcoholic beverages in particular (e.g., beer) are normal or inferior goods is a heavily disputed issue within economics and health research. Based on recently developed theories of preference adjustment this paper argues that the answer to this question may not be independent of the level of income itself. It therefore applies a gradual switching regression approach to aggregate beer consumption data in Germany from 1957 to 2007. This method allows elasticities to change over time, without prior specifications of the time and speed of adjustments. Results suggest that an important behavioral change is present in the data, as elasticities of beer demand shifted considerably between 1965 and 2004. In particular, they demonstrate that over this period beer shifted from being a normal to being an inferior good.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Volland, 2013. "The History of an Inferior Good: Beer Consumption in Germany," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2012-19, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
  • Handle: RePEc:esi:evopap:2012-19
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: ftp://137.248.191.199/RePEc/esi/discussionpapers/2012-19.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schneider, Lynne & Klein, Benjamin & Murphy, Kevin M, 1981. "Governmental Regulation of Cigarette Health Information," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 575-612, December.
    2. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2002. "The Rise of Mass Consumption Societies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(5), pages 1035-1070, October.
    3. Gallet, Craig A. & List, John A., 1998. "Elasticities of beer demand revisited," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 67-71, October.
    4. Dickey, David A & Fuller, Wayne A, 1981. "Likelihood Ratio Statistics for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 1057-1072, June.
    5. Wilhelm Ruprecht, 2005. "The historical development of the consumption of sweeteners - a learning approach," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 247-272, August.
    6. Kenneth Clements & Wana Yang & Simon Zheng, 1997. "Is utility additive? The case of alcohol," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(9), pages 1163-1167.
    7. Joni Hersch & W. Kip Viscusi, 1990. "Cigarette Smoking, Seatbelt Use, and Differences in Wage-Risk Tradeoffs," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(2), pages 202-227.
    8. Saroja Selvanathan & Eliyathamby Selvanathan, 2007. "Another look at the identical tastes hypothesis on the analysis of cross-country alcohol data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 185-215, April.
    9. Gallet, Craig A., 2007. "The demand for alcohol: a meta-analysis of elasticities," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 51(2), pages 1-15.
    10. Viscusi, W Kip & Evans, William N, 1990. "Utility Functions That Depend on Health Status: Estimates and Economic Implications," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(3), pages 353-374, June.
    11. S. Selvanathan & E.A. Selvanathan, 2005. "Empirical Regularities in Cross‐Country Alcohol Consumption," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(s1), pages 128-142, August.
    12. Freeman, Donald G., 1999. "A note on 'Economic conditions and alcohol problems'," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 659-668, October.
    13. Cook, Philip J. & Moore, Michael J., 1999. "Alcohol," Working Papers 156, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    14. Donald G. Freeman, 2000. "Alternative Panel Estimates of Alcohol Demand, Taxation, and the Business Cycle," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(2), pages 325-344, July.
    15. Craig Gallet, 1999. "Gradual switching regression estimates of alcohol demand elasticities," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(6), pages 377-379.
    16. Brenner, M. Harvey & Mooney, Anne, 1983. "Unemployment and health in the context of economic change," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 17(16), pages 1125-1138, January.
    17. Blundell, Richard & Pashardes, Panos & Weber, Guglielmo, 1993. "What Do We Learn About Consumer Demand Patterns from Micro Data?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 570-597, June.
    18. Ohtani, Kazuhiro & Kakimoto, Sumio & Abe, Kenzo, 1990. "A gradual switching regression model with a flexible transition path," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 43-48, January.
    19. Jon Nelson, 2003. "Advertising Bans, Monopoly, and Alcohol Demand: Testing for Substitution Effects using State Panel Data," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 22(1), pages 1-25, February.
    20. Bratina Danijel & Faganel Armand, 2008. "Forecasting the Primary Demand for a Beer Brand Using Time Series Analysis," Organizacija, Sciendo, vol. 41(3), pages 116-124, May.
    21. E. A. Selvanathan & S. Selvanathan, 2004. "Economic and demographic factors in Australian alcohol demand," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(21), pages 2405-2417.
    22. Alexander Konnopka & Hans-Helmut König, 2007. "Direct and Indirect Costs Attributable to Alcohol Consumption in Germany," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 605-618, July.
    23. James Fogarty, 2004. "The Own-Price Elasticity of Alcohol: A Meta-Analysis," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 04-01, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    24. Durlauf, Steven N & Phillips, Peter C B, 1988. "Trends versus Random Walks in Time Series Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(6), pages 1333-1354, November.
    25. Saroja Selvanathan, 2006. "How similar are alcohol drinkers? International evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(12), pages 1353-1362.
    26. E.A. Selvanathan, 1991. "A Cross-Country Alcohol Consumption Comparison: An application of the Rotterdam demand system," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 91-04, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    27. Jon Nelson, 2010. "Alcohol advertising bans, consumption and control policies in seventeen OECD countries, 1975-2000," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(7), pages 803-823.
    28. A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), 2000. "Handbook of Health Economics," Handbook of Health Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    29. Ulrich Witt, 2001. "special issue: Learning to consume - A theory of wants and the growth of demand," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 23-36.
    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. Andreas Chai, 2017. "Tackling Keynes’ question: a look back on 15 years of Learning To Consume," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 251-271, April.
    2. Andreas Chai, 2018. "Household consumption patterns and the sectoral composition of growing economies: A review of the interlinkages," Discussion Papers in Economics economics:201802, Griffith University, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.

    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. James Fogarty, 2010. "The Demand For Beer, Wine And Spirits: A Survey Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 428-478, July.
    2. Craig A. Gallet, 2007. "The demand for alcohol: a meta-analysis of elasticities," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 51(2), pages 121-135, June.
    3. Clements, Ken & Lan, Yihui & Liu, Haiyan, 2020. "Understanding Alcohol Consumption across Countries," 2020 Conference (64th), February 12-14, 2020, Perth, Western Australia 305249, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    4. Clements, Kenneth W. & Mariano, Marc Jim M. & Verikios, George & Wong, Berwyn, 2022. "How elastic is alcohol consumption?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 568-581.
    5. Liesbeth Colen & Johan Swinnen, 2016. "Economic Growth, Globalisation and Beer Consumption," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(1), pages 186-207, February.
    6. Yevgeniy Goryakin & Bayard Roberts & Martin McKee, 2015. "Price elasticities of alcohol demand: evidence from Russia," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(2), pages 185-199, March.
    7. Kenneth W. Clements & Yihui Lan & Haiyan Liu, 2020. "Understanding alcohol consumption across countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(40), pages 4421-4439, August.
    8. Don Freeman, 2009. "Beer in Good Times and Bad: A U.S. State-Level Analysis of Economic Conditions and Alcohol Consumption," Working Papers 0906, Sam Houston State University, Department of Economics and International Business.
    9. Friberg, Richard & Paterson, Robert W. & Richardson, Andrew D., 2011. "Why is there a Home Bias? A Case Study of Wine," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 37-66, January.
    10. James Fogarty, 2004. "The Own-Price Elasticity of Alcohol: A Meta-Analysis," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 04-01, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    11. Concetta CASTIGLIONE & Ladislava GROCHOVÁ & Davide INFANTE & Janna SMIRNOVA, 2011. "The demand for beer in presence of past consumption and advertising in the Czech Republic," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 57(12), pages 589-599.
    12. West, Sara E. & Parry, Ian W.H., 2009. "Alcohol-Leisure Complementarity: Empirical Estimates and Implications for Tax Policy," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(4), pages 611-633, December.
    13. Cooper, James C. & Wright, Joshua D., 2012. "Alcohol, antitrust, and the 21st Amendment: An empirical examination of post and hold laws," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 379-392.
    14. Jon Nelson, 2013. "Meta-analysis of alcohol price and income elasticities – with corrections for publication bias," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-10, December.
    15. Parry, Ian W.H. & Laxminarayan, Ramanan & West, Sarah E., 2006. "Fiscal and Externality Rationales for Alcohol Taxes," RFF Working Paper Series dp-06-51, Resources for the Future.
    16. Grönqvist, Hans & Niknami, Susan, 2014. "Alcohol availability and crime: Lessons from liberalized weekend sales restrictions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 77-84.
    17. Parry Ian W. H. & West Sarah E & Laxminarayan Ramanan, 2009. "Fiscal and Externality Rationales for Alcohol Policies," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-48, July.
    18. Gawain Heckley & Johan Jarl & Ulf-G Gerdtham, 2017. "Frequency and intensity of alcohol consumption: new evidence from Sweden," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 18(4), pages 495-517, May.
    19. Lorenz Kueng & Evgeny Yakovlev, 2016. "Long-Run Effects of Public Policies: Endogenous Alcohol Preferences and Life Expectancy in Russia," Working Papers w0219, New Economic School (NES).
    20. Yana Roshchina, 2013. "To drink or not to drink: the microeconomic analysis of alcohol consumption in Russia in 2006-2010," HSE Working papers WP BRP 20/SOC/2013, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Beer demand; Inferior goods; Gradual switching regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:esi:evopap:2012-19. 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: Christoph Mengs (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vamarde.html .

    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.