Household Engel curve analysis for food, Beijing, China

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyze the income sensitivity of food consumption in Beijing, China, using an original household survey data set collected by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Design/methodology/approach -An Engel curve model is fit to the household data of nine food categories and 35 food items, and both conditional and unconditional expenditure elasticities of demand are calculated and reported for the nine food groups and the 35 food items. Findings -Working's model fits the data well, and the elasticity estimates are all reasonable in terms of economic theory, size and signs. The results indicate a relative large range in income sensitivity among the nine food groups and 35 food items in response to changes in household food expenditure levels. Originality/value -The research analyzes unique and rich urban household survey data collected by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is the most comprehensive analysis to date in terms of the number of food items studied for which expenditure elasticities are calculated. These elasticities may be used to study household food consumption patterns, to calculate caloric or nutrient elasticities, to study obesity in China, to study policy prescriptions in terms of taxes and subsidies on food, to infer welfare and affluence, and may be used as inputs into econometric models such as those used by the World Bank, IFPRI, and others.

A Cross-sectional Household Analysis of Household Consumption Patterns: An Indirect Approach to Identify the Possible Factors of Personal Bankruptcy

“…It was 0.55 in 2004, 0.54 in 2009, and 0.59 in 2014. Within expectation, the results suggest that food and non-alcoholic beverages are necessity items, which are similar to the findings of Wan (1996), Tey et al (2009), Yusof and Duasa (2010) and Seale Jr et al (2012). The rise in income elasticity shows that expenses are becoming more sensitive to income changes.…”

“…Seale Jr et al (2012) have verified the presence of Engle's law: expenditure for food will increase at a decreasing rate when income and total food expenditure rise. Besides that, income growth will raise food consumption and lead to more nutritionally diverse diets, where food items that make up a basic diet tend to have lower income elasticities compared to luxurious food items (Colen et al 2018).…”

“…Studies from Tey et al (2009) and Acar et al (2016) have evinced that income and household size are significant to household consumption. Below is the Working-Leser form adapted from Seale Jr et al (2012) and Dudek (2011):…”

Middle-Class Consumers in Emerging Markets: Conceptualization, Propositions, and Implications for International Marketers

“…However, even these basic needs fall within a hierarchy in terms of their share of wallet (Zimmerman 1932). Still, Engel's law constitutes a starting point for budget allocation by households or individuals analyzed by calculating income elasticity (e.g., Chai and Moneta 2010;Isvilanonda and Kongrith 2008;Kamakura and Yuxing Du 2012;Seale et al 2012;Wan 1996). Thus:…”

The changing dietary patterns and health issues in China

“…Popkin, 2008; Popkin et al , 2010, 2012; Du et al , 2014; Gordon-Larsen et al , 2014). The NBSC data compared to the CHNS data have significant advantages in terms of national representativeness and survey duration[1], although the NBSC data have been widely criticized for excluding food-away-from-home (FAFH) consumption (Ma et al , 2006; Bai et al , 2010; Seale et al , 2012; Zhou, Yu, Abler and Chen, 2014; Zhou, Liu, Cao, Tian and Wang, 2014).…”