Cross-country food consumption patterns: theory and measurement

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of goods and services available to consumers. This thesis shows how consumption patterns can be analysed econometrically with a large number of goods. A three-level system is employed for the 25 food items whereby consumers (in over 140 countries) allocate expenditure between (i) food and non-food; (ii) the major food groups; and (iii) food items within each group. A reverse-engineering approach is used to recover the conventional (unconditional) effects of income and prices on consumption that allow group expenditures to vary. Additionally, we use a similar two-level system for the demand for beer, wine and spirits.