We conducted a meta‐analysis of food and agricultural demand elasticities for China, and used the results to derive estimates of income, own‐price, and cross‐price elasticities of demand that can be used in models of food and agricultural markets. Consistent with expectations, we find that income elasticities of demand for many food products decline as per capita income increases. The declines are relatively large for alcohol and tobacco, and smaller for livestock products. Contrary to expectations, own‐price elasticities for some products become more price‐elastic as per capita income increases. One explanation may be that economic development brings with it improvements in food supply chains that provide people more choices with respect to food products than those traditionally consumed in rural villages, leading to greater substitution possibilities and more price‐elastic demands. Estimates for 2011 of income and own‐price demand elasticities are generally reasonable, whereas deriving reliable estimates of cross‐price elasticities is difficult. The estimates suggest that China's meat and dairy demands, and in turn livestock feed demands, will continue growing strongly. Policy‐makers should continue to monitor the evolution of demand for these products with an eye toward ensuring food security, particularly given the sheer size of the population and relatively tight domestic food supply situation in China.

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Group expenditure has often been treated as exogenous when estimating demand parameters for a group of commodities with an almost ideal demand system. Researchers draw demand elasticities from past literature to use in their own analysis, but elasticities contingent on exogenous group expenditure may be inappropriate. Here, the approach is considered in the case of Japanese meat demand with a simple equation added to estimate group expenditures. The results show that elasticities should be revised and that a group expenditure equation is not a panacea as it may result in the violation of theoretical restrictions, such as symmetry. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.

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Much of the public discussion of the food price crisis has focused on the sharply increased use of food commodities for biofuel production, framing debate in simple food versus fuel terms. Reality is more complex. Multiple forces drove food prices to high levels and, according to findings we report in this article, these forces will sustain high prices over the medium term. We also find that the distinction between high world prices for food commodities and the consumer costs of food is an important one to make. Food consumers do not buy raw food commodities at international prices. The degree to which the price of traded food commodities and the price of food are related depends on a long list of factors, most of which operate to dampen price transmission. In the search for appropriate policy response, it is essential to measure consumer effects correctly and to apportion properly the causes of current high prices.JEL classification: Q11, Q17, Q18

This study investigates the economic interactions between a national renewable fuel policy, namely the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), and a sub-national renewable fuel policy, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) in California. The two policies have a similar objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but the policies differ in the manner in which those objectives are met. The RFS imposes a hierarchical mandate of renewable fuel use for each year whereas the LCFS imposes a specific annual carbon-intensity reduction with less of a fuel specific mandate. We model the interactions using a partial-equilibrium structural model of agricultural and energy markets in the US and Rest-of-World regions. Our results suggest the policies are mutually reinforcing in that the compliance costs of meeting one of the requirements is lower in the presence of the other policy. In addition, the two policies combine to create a spatial shift in renewable fuel use toward California even though overall renewable fuel use remains relatively unchanged.