Do prices and attributes explain international differences in food purchases

Pierre Dubois, Rachel Griffith, Aviv Nevo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

54 Scopus citations

Abstract

Food purchases differ substantially across countries. We use detailed household-level data from the United States, France, and the United Kingdom to (i) document these differences; (ii) estimate a demand system for food and nutrients; and (iii) simulate counterfactual choices if households faced prices and nutritional characteristics from other countries. We find that differences in prices and characteristics are important and can explain some difference (e.g., United States-France difference in caloric intake) but generally cannot explain many of the compositional patterns by themselves. Instead, it seems an interaction between the economic environment and differences in preferences is needed to explain cross-country differences. (JEL D12, I12, L11, L66, Q11).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)832-867
Number of pages36
JournalAmerican Economic Review
Volume104
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2014

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Economics and Econometrics

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