National income and fishery consumption: a global investigation

We apply the panel unit root tests, heterogeneous panel co-integration analysis, and panel-based error correction models (ECM) to examine the long-term co-integrated relationship between national income and fishery consumption in a panel of 101 countries for the period 1970–2006. In addition, we utilise a panel dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) model, to assess the effect of national income on fish consumption, and vice versa. Our empirical results provide clear support for a positive long-term co-integrated relationship between national income and fishery consumption after allowing for a heterogeneous country effect. Further, we display a bi-directional causality among these variables via the dynamic panel-based ECM in the long-term, and demonstrate that fish is a common food. Finally, our full sample is divided into developed, developing, southern hemisphere countries (SHC) and northern hemisphere countries (NHC) to discover the broader effect of income on fish consumption if any, and vice versa, among different levels of economic development and diverse regions. This facilitates our understanding and provides more insight into the characteristic of fishery among different levels of economic–geography conditions. We propose fishery policy recommendations through our findings.