A model of household type specific food demand behaviour in Hungary

The paper describes a two stage model of Hungarian households' food demand. Demand for the food aggregate is represented by a Working-Leser type single equation model while demand for seven distinct food types is modelled in a complete demand system using the LA/AIDS functional form. Estimation is based on household budget survey data for 1996. Demand elasticities are estimated for average households as well as for specific groups defined by sociodemographic characteristics. Fruit and vegetables are found to be the food types with most elastic demand but in general, differences between elasticities for different products as well as between different sociodemographic groups are relatively small.