Household Food Demand by Income Category: Evidence From Household Survey Data in an Urban Chinese Province

Price and income elasticities are estimated for ten major food groups across low-, medium-, and high-income classes, using the 2004 China urban household survey data for Jiangsu province. Demand parameters are estimated using an incomplete demand system (the LinQuad model). Results of this study show that for the majority of the studied food categories, the demand for the low- income group is found to be more income and own-price elastic; while the demand for the high-income group is found to be less income and own-price elastic. Therefore, the null hypothesis of constant price and income elasticities of demand is rejected in this study. [EconLit citations: D120, R220, Q180]. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.