Accounting for Changes in Tastes.

Health concerns are thought by many to have shifted consumption away from red meats, though econometric evidence is mixed. Testing for structural change is difficult, especially when on e time series is used for both estimating demand equations and testin g their stability. Specification errors may suggest a shift where non e has occurred. Using nonparametric demand analysis, the authors find that meat consumption patterns in the United States and Australia ca n be explained using only relative prices and expenditures. Only impo sing particular functional forms can reverse the conclusion, suggesti ng that specification errors in econometric demand studies can accoun t for findings of taste changes. Copyright 1988 by University of Chicago Press.