The dynamic impact of income and income distribution on food consumption among adults in rural China
LI Lei1, 2, ZHAI Shi-xian3, BAI Jun-fei2, 3
1 National Agricultural and Rural Development Research Institute, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, P.R.China 2 Beijing Food Safety Policy & Strategy Research Base, Beijing 100083, P.R.China 3 College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, P.R.China
Previous studies have demonstrated that income has a significant effect on food demand in rural China. However, little research has focused on the dynamic impact of income and income distribution on food demand in rural China. Using China Health and Nutrition Survey data, this study employs a consistent two-step quadratic almost ideal demand system model, with addressed problems of endogeneity of total expenditure and zero shares, to estimate the food demand elasticities among adults in rural areas with regard to the different income strata. The results show that changes in income and income strata have significant effects on food demand in rural areas. Except for grains, all other food groups, including vegetables, oils and fats, animal products, and other foods, have positive income elasticities, and the rise in the income strata will lead to declining income elasticities for grains, vegetables, oils and fats, and
Fund: The authors acknowledged the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71673316) and Beijing Food Safety Policy & Strategy Research Base, China. This research uses data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). We are also grateful to research grant funding from the following sources: the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) for R01 HD30880; the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) for R01DK104371 and R01HL108427; the NIH Fogarty Grant D43 TW009077 for financial support for the CHNS data collection and analysis files since 1989; the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Ministry of Health, for support for the CHNS 2009; the Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai since 2009; and the Beijing Municipal Centers for Disease Prevention and Control since 2011. We are also grateful for funding from the NICHD to the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (NIH Grant; P2C HD050924 and T32 HD007168).
About author: LI Lei, E-mail: lileicem@cau.edu.cn; Correspondence BAI Jun-fei, E-mail: jfbai@cau.edu.cn
LI Lei, ZHAI Shi-xian, BAI Jun-fei.
2021.
The dynamic impact of income and income distribution on food consumption among adults in rural China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 20(1): 330-342.
