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Estimating the Relationship between Food Prices and Food Consumption—Methods Matter

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  • Laura Cornelsen
  • Mario Mazzocchi
  • Rosemary Green
  • Alan D. Dangour
  • Richard D. Smith

Abstract

Concerns about the growing prevalence of obesity worldwide have led researchers and policy makers to investigate the potential health impact of fiscal policies such as taxes on unhealthy foods. A common instrument used to measure the relationship between food prices and food consumption is the price elasticity of demand. Using meta-regression analysis we assessed how differences in methodological approaches to estimating demand affected food price elasticities. Most methodological differences had a statistically significant impact on elasticity estimates, which stresses the importance of using meta-estimates or testing the sensitivity of simulation outcomes to a range of elasticity parameters before drawing policy conclusions.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Cornelsen & Mario Mazzocchi & Rosemary Green & Alan D. Dangour & Richard D. Smith, 2016. "Estimating the Relationship between Food Prices and Food Consumption—Methods Matter," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 38(3), pages 546-561.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:apecpp:v:38:y:2016:i:3:p:546-561.
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Femenia, Fabienne, 2019. "A Meta-Analysis of the Price and Income Elasticities of Food Demand," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 68(2), June.
    2. Luis A Sandoval & Carlos E Carpio & Marcos Sanchez-Plata, 2019. "The effect of ‘Traffic-Light’ nutritional labelling in carbonated soft drink purchases in Ecuador," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Sara Capacci & Olivier Allais & Celine Bonnet & Mario Mazzocchi, 2019. "The impact of the French soda tax on prices and purchases. An ex post evaluation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-22, October.

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