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Food consumption in Argentina: The Deaton-Paxson puzzle beyond mean effects

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  • Echeverría, Lucía
  • Molina, José Alberto

Abstract

Deaton, A., and C. Paxson (1998. "Economies of Scale, Household Size, and the Demand for Food." Journal of Political Economy 106 (5): 897–930. doi: 10.1086/250035) found the opposite to what theory predicts: food share declines with household size, keeping household per capita expenditure constant. This paper aims to explore the relationship between food demand and household size beyond the conditional mean of food consumption for Argentina using a quantile regression technique. Because standard analysis focuses on the average effects, the existence of the paradox at the lower and upper ends of the conditional food share distribution remains unknown. We find negative and significant effects of household size on food share at the upper tail of the conditional food share distribution, but we find no evidence of the puzzle for households with relatively lower food share that are reasonably richer. Results show the importance of accounting for distributional effects to obtain a complete understanding of food consumption behavior and sheds light on the crucial role of economies of scale in poor households.

Suggested Citation

  • Echeverría, Lucía & Molina, José Alberto, 2023. "Food consumption in Argentina: The Deaton-Paxson puzzle beyond mean effects," Nülan. Deposited Documents 3837, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    • Handle: RePEc:nmp:nuland:3837
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    Keywords

    Ley de Engel; Economías de Escala; Consumo de Alimentos; Regresión por Cuantiles; Argentina;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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