Canadian household demand for food

by Chen, Chen

This thesis examines the impact of socioeconomic and dernogmphic factors on Canadian household decisions to consume food-away-from-home, food-at-home, convenience food, prepared meals, and snacks, using Canadian Family Food Expenditure Suwey data for 1986 and 1992. The study applies both single-equationand demand system approaches to estimate the determinants of food demand. Heckrnan's two-stage procedure is employed to correct for the selection bias from zero expenditure. The intra-household behavior on food expenditures is nlso investigated using a sub-sarnple grouping method. The results indicate that the employment status, gender of household head, marital status, immigrant mival year. presence of children. and number of full time eamers have a strong impact on household dernand for food besides the effects of price. income and household size. Household size elasticities are larger than price and incorne elasticities. Sub-sample results indicate that intra-household allocation could be an important factor in household decision on food expenditure.