IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/isu/genstf/1994010108000011501.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Food consumption patterns in rural Pakistan

Author

Listed:
  • Riaz, Khalid

Abstract

Assessing the impact of government policies on food consumption behavior requires knowledge of demand system parameters. In Pakistan where regional consumption habits differ considerably, estimating such a system requires careful modeling of habitual behavior. Previous demand studies have not handled the regional heterogeneity of consumption patterns in a satisfactory manner. Also, some of these studies relied on restrictive assumptions regarding consumer preferences. As a result, there is little consensus on values of demand elasticities for even the key food commodities;This study proposes the hypothesis that regional consumption patterns differ because of habits induced by long-term relative prices. Differences in regional relative prices stem from inadequate and unevenly developed infrastructure. Stability of price differentials between regions causes persistent biases in household consumption towards cheaper local foods and, in the long run, leads to formation of strong habit for consuming those foods;These ideas were operationalized using the theory of price dependent preferences. According to this theory, long-term prices condition household preferences while market prices and income define their budget sets. A Price Conditional Demand System (PCDS) was derived where the expenditure shares were functions of long-term prices and, in addition, depended on current market prices and total food expenditures. This was done without imposing arbitrary restrictions on consumer preferences. The PCDS was estimated using micro-level data from the Pakistan Rural Household Survey conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute, during 1986-88;The results in this study support the hypothesis that households develop habits for consuming foods that are cheap in the region, on a long term basis. The model also enabled estimation of conventional price and expenditure elasticities for eight food commodities;The estimates of model parameters were used to simulate effects of trade liberalization and infrastructure improvements. The result suggested that in the long run, investments in infrastructure that reduce regional price differentials have a larger impact on food consumption than trade liberalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Riaz, Khalid, 1994. "Food consumption patterns in rural Pakistan," ISU General Staff Papers 1994010108000011501, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:1994010108000011501
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/0392a56c-f39e-41df-8f95-7f66eb127505/content
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pollak, Robert A, 1977. "Price Dependent Preferences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(2), pages 64-75, March.
    2. Dorosh, Paul & Valdés, Alberto, 1990. "Effects of exchange rate and trade policies on agriculture in Pakistan:," Research reports 84, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Fulginiti, Lilyan E., 1994. "Price-Conditional Technology," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 19(1), pages 1-12, July.
    4. Phlips, Louis, 1972. "A Dynamic Version of the Linear Expenditure Model," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 54(4), pages 450-458, November.
    5. Moschini, GianCarlo & Vissa, Anuradha, 1992. "A Linear Inverse Demand System," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 17(2), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Ehtisham Ahmad & Stephen Ludlow, 1987. "Aggregate and Regional Demand Response Patterns in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 645-657.
    7. Aftab Ahmad Cheema & Muhammad Hussain Malik, 1985. "Changes in Consumption Patterns and Employment under Alternative Income Distributions in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 1-22.
    8. Deaton, A. & Grimard, F., 1991. "Demand Analysis For Tax Reform In Pakistan," Papers 151, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Development Studies.
    9. Barten, A. P., 1969. "Maximum likelihood estimation of a complete system of demand equations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 7-73.
    10. Nadeem A. Burney & Naeem Akhtar, 1990. "Fuel Demand Elasticities in Pakistan: An Analysis of Households' Expenditure on Fuels using Micro Data," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 155-174.
    11. Basmann, R L & Molina, D J & Slottje, D J, 1983. "Budget Constraint Prices as Preference Changing Parameters of Generalized Fechner-Thurstone Direct Utility Functions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(3), pages 411-413, June.
    12. N. A. Burney & M. Akmal, 1991. "Food Demand In Pakistan: An Application Of The Extended Linear Expenditure System," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 185-195, May.
    13. Howe, Howard & Pollak, Robert A & Wales, Terence J, 1979. "Theory and Time Series Estimation of the Quadratic Expenditure System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(5), pages 1231-1247, September.
    14. Nadeem A. Burney & Ashfaque H. Khan, 1991. "Household Consumption Patterns in Pakistan: An Urban-Rural Comparison Using Micro Data," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 145-171.
    15. Harold Alderman, 1988. "Estimates of Consumer Price Response in Pakistan using Market Prices as Data," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 27(2), pages 89-107.
    16. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
    17. Green, Richard D. & Hassan, Zuhair A. & Johnson, Stanley R., 1978. "Maximum likelihood estimation of linear expenditure systems with serially correlated errors : An application," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 207-219, August.
    18. Stigler, George J & Becker, Gary S, 1977. "De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(2), pages 76-90, March.
    19. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1980. "An Almost Ideal Demand System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 312-326, June.
    20. Constantino Lluch & R. Williams, 1975. "Consumer Demand Systems and Aggregate Consumption in the US: An Application of the Extended Linear Expenditure System," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 8(1), pages 49-66, February.
    21. Nadeem A. Burney & Ashfaque H. Khan, 1992. "Socio-economic Characteristics and Household Savings: An Analysis of the Households' Saving Behaviour in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 31-48.
    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. Huffman, Sonya Kostova, 1999. "Changes of household consumption behavior during the transition from centrally-planned to market-oriented economy," ISU General Staff Papers 1999010108000013568, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Zubair Tahir & Khalid Riaz, 1997. "Integration of Agricultural Commodity Markets in Punjab," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 241-262.
    3. Ashfaq, Muhammad & Parton, Kevin A. & Griffith, Garry R. & Piggott, Roley R., 1999. "A Multilevel Economic Analysis of the Wheat Market in Pakistan," 1999 Conference (43th), January 20-22, 1999, Christchurch, New Zealand 123757, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.

    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. Sohail J. Malik & Naeem Sarwar, 1993. "Some Tests for Differences in Consumption Patterns: The Impact of Remittances Using Household Income and Expenditure Survey Data of Pakistan 1987-88," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 699-711.
    2. Haider, Adnan & Zaidi, Masroor, 2017. "Food Consumption Patterns and Nutrition Disparity in Pakistan," MPRA Paper 83522, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Barnett, William A. & Serletis, Apostolos, 2008. "Measuring Consumer Preferences and Estimating Demand Systems," MPRA Paper 12318, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Umar Farooq & Trevor Young & Muhammad, 1999. "An Investigation into the Farm Households Consumption Patterns in Punjab, Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 38(3), pages 293-305.
    5. Kesavan, Thulasiram, 1988. "Monte Carlo experiments of market demand theory," ISU General Staff Papers 198801010800009854, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    6. Barnett, William A. & Serletis, Apostolos, 2008. "Consumer preferences and demand systems," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 210-224, December.
    7. Chavas, Jean-Paul, 2013. "On Demand Analysis and Dynamics: A Benefit Function Approach," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 149683, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Sibelle Diniz & Ana Machado, 2011. "Analysis of the consumption of artistic-cultural goods and services in Brazil," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 35(1), pages 1-18, February.
    9. 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.
    10. Paul Oslington, 2012. "General Equilibrium: Theory and Evidence," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 88(282), pages 446-448, September.
    11. Ray, Ranjan, 1985. "Specification and time series estimation of dynamic Gorman Polar Form demand systems," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 357-374.
    12. Kenneth W Clements & Yihui Lan & Haiyan Liu & Long Vo, 2022. "The Icp, Ppp And Household Expenditure Patterns," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 22-18, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    13. L. Fanelli & M. Mazzocchi, 2004. "Back to the future? Habits and rational addiction in UK tobacco and alcohol demand," Quaderni di Dipartimento 0, Department of Statistics, University of Bologna.
    14. Aziz, Babar & Malik, Shahnawaz, 2006. "Surmising Consumer Demand System & Structural Changes Using Time Series Data," MPRA Paper 22911, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2006.
    15. William A. Barnett & Ikuyasu Usui, 2007. "The Theoretical Regularity Properties of the Normalized Quadratic Consumer Demand Model," International Symposia in Economic Theory and Econometrics, in: Functional Structure Inference, pages 107-127, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    16. Mubarik Ali & Abedullah, 1998. "Supply, Demand, and Policy Environment for Pulses in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 35-52.
    17. W D A Bryant, 2009. "General Equilibrium:Theory and Evidence," World Scientific Books, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., number 6875, January.
    18. Peguero, Felipe & Kennedy, P. Lynn & Zapata, Hector O., 2018. "A Generalized Dynamic Inverse AIDS Model for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: An Application to the U.S. Bell Pepper Industry," 2018 Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2018, Jacksonville, Florida 266686, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    19. N. A. Burney & M. Akmal, 1991. "Food Demand In Pakistan: An Application Of The Extended Linear Expenditure System," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 185-195, May.
    20. Eric Sjöberg, 2015. "Pricing on the Fish Market--Does Size Matter?," Marine Resource Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(3), pages 277-296.

    More about this item

    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:isu:genstf:1994010108000011501. 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: Curtis Balmer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiasus.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.