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Data from the 1972 Urban Family Expenditure Survey were employed to estimate consumption functions and Engel relationships. The Engel curve is used to show how expenditure on, or consumptin of, a particular commodity varies with the level of family income. In the first case, total current consumption was related to current income and family size. For the Engel curves, family expenditures on 14 commodity groups were related to current income (or total current consumption) and family size. Major objectives of the study were to provide estimates of consumption functions and Engel relationshps based on the most recent survey data, and to examine hypotheses of possible structural changes related to six socio-economic characteristics of the surveyed families. Specifically, the consumption and Engel relationships were examined statistically for possible structural changes across sample partitions. The results indicate that consumpiton functions and Engel curves are sensitive to the socio-economic characteristics of the family. Therefore this observation should be kept in mind when using these results for policy decisions., Agriculture Canada, Economics Branch

Methods have been developed recently for continual evaluation of structural stability for model specification CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests suggested by Brown, Durbin, and Evans employ recursively ! calculated residuals to permit the examination of structural stability Easily developed plots can be used to gene rate the inferences which can be supported by the tests This article reports on an application of these tests for five quarterly meat demand equations for Canada

Reprinted from Southern Economic Journal, Vol.47, No.2, October 1980

This is the third in a series of four technical publications on the study of consumer demand for food in Canada. Demand parameters for 122 food items were estimated, using data from the 1974 Urban Family Food Expenditure Survey. These parameters provide a basis for computing expenditure, income, quality, family size and price elasticities. The price elasticities were computed by using implicit prices derived from the expenditure and quantity data. The effects of partitioning the sample by income class, city and first and second halves of the year were also investigated. The analysis has produced a set of parameter estimates that are of generally high statistical quality, that agree with a priori reasoning, and that support results obtained from related empirical studies. In addition, the price elasticities obtained are novel to applied cross-section studies and are estimated at levels which can be rationalized with the prevailing time-series results., Agriculture Canada, Economics Branch

Static and demand systems were reviewed and estimated using annual Canadian data for the period 1947-72. The review focuses on the relationship among the static and dynamic demand systems, persistence in consumption behavior and more general aspects of intertemporal consumption patterns. The empirical results provide additional insights into Canadian consumer expenditure bahavior itself, an applied context for evalutaing the different demand systems, and a comparison of static and dynamic forms of demand systems. The structural estimates obtained are generally consistent with a priori expections. Thus, they reinforce the confidence that can be placed in estimates of demand elasticities and their use in policy analysis. Alternative levels of aggregation, comparisons with other demand systems reaults for Canada and the United States, estimates from models with more flexible error assumptions and predictive performance are used in evaluating the results., Agriculture Canada, Economics Branch

Since the Hatch Act of 1887, it has been recognized that investments in research can modify agricultural technology to the benefit of the public as well as the agricultural sector. Relatedly, the public education system is based on the presumption that education can work to the public benefit in the production process.

Reprint of Quarterly Review of Economics and Business, vol.16, No.1

Reprinted from the Southern Economic Journal, Vol.41, No.2, October 1974

The modern theory of consumer behavior provides a number of a priori restrictions that are useful in the estimation of systems of demand equations. Of particular importance for applied work is the fact that the restrictions from the theory can be employed to obtain estimates of cross price elasticities and flexibilities that would not be available in their absence. These estimates are important to agricultural policy problems which increasingly recognize interactions and secondary effects of existing and proposed programs. This study is concerned with an application of the theory in estimating a system of demand equations for twenty-seven food commodity groups and a nonfood group. After a review of the basis for the prior information supplied by the theory, it is applied to times series and cross section data on the Canadian economy. Resulting estimates are compared to others for Canada and the U.S. In addition, a framework is presented for utilizing the estimated demand parameters in forecasting and policy analysis., Agriculture Canada, Economics Branch