IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/isu/genstf/1994010108000011518.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Modeling China's household food demand in the transition toward a market economy

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Qingbin

Abstract

Since 1978 China has moved gradually from a centrally planned to a mixed economic system of planning and markets. Under the new economic system consumers play more important role in determining China's food production and trade. Therefore, it is important for China's policymakers to understand household food demand because the effects of alternative food policies are conditioned by consumer demand. Information on China's food demand is also important for modeling the world food markets where China has been a major trader. Furthermore, China's long history of consumption rationing and gradual movement to a market economy provide a unique opportunity for studying consumer behavior in an economic transition;This study models China's household food demand in the transition toward a market economy. The major contributions of this study are: (1) a quantitative assessment of the changes in China's average food consumption and nutrient availability and sources through the compilation of annual food balance sheets during 1950 to 1991; (2) theoretical demand models for Chinese urban and rural households; (3) estimation of the associated demand models using the most recently available data; and (4) policy analysis based on the estimated demand models;The results from this study suggest four major conclusions: First, China's average dietary status changed modestly from 1950 to 1978 but has improved significantly since the 1978 economic reform. Second, China's household food consumption is in the transition from grains to animal products. The demand for animal products, and therefore feedgrains, in China is expected to increase at a significant rate. Third, with one-fifth of the world's population but only 7 percent of the earth's arable land, China is likely to be a major importer of wheat, barley, beans, and feedgrains. Fourth, government policy has been a key factor of the changes in China's household food consumption and dietary improvement since 1980 and will continue to play an important role in influencing China's household food consumption and international food trade.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Qingbin, 1994. "Modeling China's household food demand in the transition toward a market economy," ISU General Staff Papers 1994010108000011518, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:1994010108000011518
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/a5d835b9-85a7-477e-9d36-b95166e80868/content
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lin, Justin Yifu, 1988. "The Household Responsibility System in China's Agricultural Reform: A Theoretical and Empirical Study," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(3), pages 199-224, Supplemen.
    2. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G, 1981. "Several Tests for Model Specification in the Presence of Alternative Hypotheses," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(3), pages 781-793, May.
    3. Peterson, E. Wesley F. & Jin, Lan & Ito, Shoichi, 1991. "An econometric analysis of rice consumption in the People's Republic of China," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 67-78, October.
    4. Subhash C. Ray, 1989. "Consumer Demand in a System of Partial Rationing and Dual Pricing," Indian Economic Review, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 25-43, July.
    5. Catherine Halbrendt & Conrado Gempesaw II, 1990. "A Policy Analysis of China's Wheat Economy," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 72(2), pages 268-278.
    6. Deaton,Angus & Muellbauer,John, 1980. "Economics and Consumer Behavior," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521296762, October.
    7. T. Kesavan & Zuhair A. Hassan & Helen H. Jensen & Stanley R. Johnson, 1993. "Dynamics and Long-run Structure in U.S. Meat Demand," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 41(2), pages 139-153, July.
    8. Pesaran, M H & Deaton, Angus S, 1978. "Testing Non-Nested Nonlinear Regression Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(3), pages 677-694, May.
    9. Kim Haden, 1990. "The Demand for Cigarettes in Japan," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 72(2), pages 446-450.
    10. Wang, Q. & Jensen, Helen H., 1994. "Household Demand for Alcoholic Beverages and Tea in Urban China," Staff General Research Papers Archive 839, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    11. Shoichi Ito & E. Wesley F. Peterson & Warren R. Grant, 1989. "Rice in Asia: Is It Becoming an Inferior Good?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 71(1), pages 32-42.
    12. Neary, J. P. & Roberts, K. W. S., 1980. "The theory of household behaviour under rationing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 25-42, January.
    13. Peter Murrell, 1991. "Symposium on Economic Transition in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 3-9, Fall.
    14. Deaton, Angus, 1988. "Quality, Quantity, and Spatial Variation of Price," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(3), pages 418-430, June.
    15. David Lipton & Jeffrey Sachs, 1990. "Privitization in Eastern Europe: The Case of Poland," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 21(2), pages 293-342.
    16. Stanley Fischer & Alan Gelb, 1991. "The Process of Socialist Economic Transformation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 91-105, Fall.
    17. M. H. Pesaran, 1974. "On the General Problem of Model Selection," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(2), pages 153-171.
    18. Yetley, Mervin J. & Tun, Sovan, 1986. "Projecting Food Demand: A Comparison Of Two Methods," Staff Reports 277890, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    19. Carter, Colin A & Zhong, Fu-Ning, 1991. "China's Past and Future Role in the Grain Trade," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(4), pages 791-814, July.
    20. Vuong, Quang H, 1989. "Likelihood Ratio Tests for Model Selection and Non-nested Hypotheses," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 307-333, March.
    21. Justin Yifu Lin, 1987. "The Household Responsibility System Reform in China: A Peasant's Institutional Choice," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 69(2), pages 410-415.
    22. C.-T Jordan Lin & J. Walter Milon, 1993. "Attribute and Safety Perceptions in a Double-Hurdle Model of Shellfish Consumption," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(3), pages 724-729.
    23. Smil, Vaclav, 1981. "China's food : availability, requirements, composition, prospects," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 67-77, May.
    24. Bingsheng, Ke, 1992. "Price and Subsidy Policy for Grain in China: Performance, Problems, and Prospects for Reform," 1992 Occasional Paper Series No. 6 197869, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    25. Lin, Justin Yifu, 1992. "Rural Reforms and Agricultural Growth in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(1), pages 34-51, March.
    26. Jan Svejnar, 1991. "Microeconomic Issues in the Transition to a Market Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 123-138, Fall.
    27. Catherine Halbrendt & Conrado Gempesaw & Dimphna Dolk-Etz & Francis Tuan, 1994. "Rural Chinese Food Consumption: The Case of Guangdong," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(4), pages 794-799.
    28. Podkaminer, Leon, 1988. "Disequilibrium in Poland's consumer markets: Further evidence on intermarket spillovers," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 43-60, March.
    29. Perkins, Dwight Heald, 1988. "Reforming China's Economic System," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 26(2), pages 601-645, June.
    30. Richard Green & Julian M. Alston, 1990. "Elasticities in AIDS Models," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 72(2), pages 442-445.
    31. Lewbel, Arthur, 1989. "Nesting the AIDS and Translog Demand System," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 30(2), pages 349-356, May.
    32. Steven T. Yen & Wen S. Chern, 1992. "Flexible Demand Systems with Serially Correlated Errors: Fat and Oil Consumption in the United States," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 74(3), pages 689-697.
    33. Shihua Pan & Stanley R. Johnson, 1992. "Chinese Urban Consumption Behavior under the Current Mixed System of Planning and Markets," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 92-wp88, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    34. Polinsky, A Mitchell, 1977. "The Demand for Housing: A Study in Specification and Grouping," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(2), pages 447-461, March.
    35. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1980. "An Almost Ideal Demand System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 312-326, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lein-Lein Chen & John Devereux, 2017. "The Iron Rice Bowl: Chinese Living Standards 1952–1978," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 59(3), pages 261-310, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huffman, Sonya Kostova, 1999. "Changes of household consumption behavior during the transition from centrally-planned to market-oriented economy," ISU General Staff Papers 1999010108000013568, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Zhang, Xiaobo & Mount, Timothy D. & Boisvert, Richard N., 2001. "The Demand For Food Grain In China : New Insights Into A Controversy," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 30(1), pages 1-9, April.
    3. Holt, Matthew T., 2002. "Inverse demand systems and choice of functional form," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 117-142, January.
    4. McAleer, Michael, 1995. "The significance of testing empirical non-nested models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 149-171, May.
    5. Wang, Qingbin & Halbrendt, Catherine & Johnson, Stanley R., 1996. "A non-nested test of the AIDS vs. the translog demand system," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 139-143, May.
    6. Okrent, Abigail M. & Alston, Julian M., 2011. "Demand for Food in the United States: A Review of Literature, Evaluation of Previous Estimates, and Presentation of New Estimates of Demand," Monographs, University of California, Davis, Giannini Foundation, number 251908, December.
    7. Wen S. Chern & Kimiko Ishibashi & Kiyoshi Taniguchi & Yuki Tokoyama, 2002. "Analysis of Food Consumption Behavior by Japanese Households," Working Papers 02-06, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).
    8. Huffman, Sonya Kostova & Johnson, Stanley R., 2004. "Empirical tests of impacts of rationing: the case of Poland in transition," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 79-99, March.
    9. Han, Tong & Wahl, Thomas I. & Mittelhammer, Ronald C., 1998. "Rural Household Fruit And Vegetable Consumption In China," 1998 Annual meeting, August 2-5, Salt Lake City, UT 20854, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    10. Huang, Jikun & Rozelle, Scott, 1998. "Market development and food demand in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 25-45.
    11. Prize Committee, Nobel, 2015. "Consumption, Poverty, and Welfare," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2015-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    12. Taniguchi, Kiyoshi & Chern, Wen S., 2000. "Income Elasticity Of Rice Demand In Japan And Its Implications: Cross-Sectional Data Analysis," 2000 Annual meeting, July 30-August 2, Tampa, FL 21755, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. D. R. Cox, 2013. "A return to an old paper: ‘Tests of separate families of hypotheses’," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 75(2), pages 207-215, March.
    14. Han, Tong & Cramer, Gail L. & Wahl, Thomas I., 1997. "Rural Household Food Consumption in China: Evidence from the Rural Household Survey," 1997 Annual Meeting, July 13-16, 1997, Reno\ Sparks, Nevada 35797, Western Agricultural Economics Association.
    15. Chen, Dabai, 1990. "Plan and market(s): a theoretical model of the Chinese grain economy," ISU General Staff Papers 1990010108000010424, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    16. repec:rri:wpaper:201303 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Silva João M. C. Santos & Tenreyro Silvana & Windmeijer Frank, 2015. "Testing Competing Models for Non-negative Data with Many Zeros," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 29-46, January.
    18. Noriko Amano, 2018. "Nutrition Inequality: The Role of Prices, Income, and Preferences," 2018 Meeting Papers 453, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    19. Thomas Vendryes, 2014. "Peasants Against Private Property Rights: A Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 971-995, December.
    20. Bratsiotis, George J. & Robinson, Wayne A., 2016. "Unit Total Costs: An Alternative Marginal Cost Proxy for Inflation Dynamics," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 20(7), pages 1826-1849.
    21. Asche, Frank & Guttormsen, Atle G. & Kristofersson, Dadi & Roheim, Cathy A., 2005. "Import Demand Estimation and the Generalized Composite Commodity Theorem," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19432, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:1994010108000011518. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Curtis Balmer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiasus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.