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Modeling physical quantities of food and nutrients consumed from aggregate data—with an application to Finland

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  • Xavier Irz

Abstract

Anticipating the impact of changes in economic incentives on dietary quality and nutritional health requires knowledge of how physical quantities of food consumed respond to price and income variations. A problem arises, however, because physical quantities are: (1) not consistent aggregates in demand models; and (2) not measured at final/retail level in national statistics. The article develops a solution by establishing explicitly the theoretical link between composite demand and physical quantities, from which a novel empirical approach to the estimation of nutrient elasticities is derived. It is applied to Finnish aggregate data from the National Accounts and Food Balance Sheets over the 1975–2006 period, and the results are used to assess the potential effectiveness of several incentive‐based nutritional policy instruments.

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  • Xavier Irz, 2010. "Modeling physical quantities of food and nutrients consumed from aggregate data—with an application to Finland," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(3‐4), pages 293-304, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:41:y:2010:i:3-4:p:293-304
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-0862.2010.00441.x
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    2. Qiyan Zeng & Zhipeng He & Yuting Wang, 2022. "The Direct and Structure Effect of Income on Nutrition Demand of Chinese Rural Residents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-13, October.
    3. Mohammad Ali & Kira M. Villa & Janak Joshi, 2018. "Health and hunger: nutrient response to income depending on caloric availability in Nepal," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(5), pages 611-621, September.

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    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • Q11 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis; Prices

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