The Demand For Wet Fish in Great Britain

Conventional empirical demand systems normally take prices to be exogenous, and determine the quantities demanded. Although this is logical for the individual consumer, at the market level the aggregate quantity traded may be exogenously determined, while the price vector changes to ensure themarkets clear. It is suggested that this alternative scenario is particularlyattractive for foodstuffs, and especially for wet fish, the commodity underconsideration. An empirical analysis of the demand for wet fish in the UK using both the direct and indirect Translog models suggest that in this market, quantities are determining prices rather than the other way round. Furthermore, the two models provide widely different estimates of consumer preferences. This would suggest that more attention should be paid to the directionof causality in markets when undertaking formal demand analysis.