An analysis of quality and consumption of fruits and vegetables / by Joel Etchells.

Etchells, Joel. (2009). An analysis of quality and consumption of fruits and vegetables / by Joel Etchells. Honours Thesis, School of Economics, The University of Queensland.

       
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Author Etchells, Joel.
Thesis Title An analysis of quality and consumption of fruits and vegetables / by Joel Etchells.
Formatted title .
School, Centre or Institute School of Economics
Institution The University of Queensland
Publication date 2009
Thesis type Honours Thesis
Total pages 146
Language eng
Subjects 14 Economics
Formatted abstract This thesis made use of a retail database compiled by Harris Farms Markets over a period of approximately 8 years. The database comprised approximately 1.3 million weekly transactions across ten stores, for over 1400 fruit and vegetable products. The analysis focused on the ten fruits and vegetables that accounted for the largest budget shares of a representative consumer at Harris Farm Markets, with a focus on price-quality trade-offs. The methods of analysis utilised to examine price-quality trade-offs were hedonic regressions and a Linearised Almost Ideal Demand System. The hedonic regression estimates reported in this dissertation reveal significant differences in the marginal willingness to pay for different varieties and sale sizes of particular fruits and vegetables. Assuming that the perceived quality of a product varies according to the marginal valuations of its qualitative characteristics, the ten selected fruits and vegetables were aggregated into low, average and high quality classifications according to the presence of particular attributes. The LA/LAIDS model was then estimated treating each quality classified fruit and vegetable as a heterogeneous product. Though the estimated Hicksian elasticities of the quality-classified LA/AIDS failed to satisfy the negativity assumption implied by economic theory, the resulting Marshallian elasticity estimates suggest that in general, average-quality products are the most price-inelastic of the three quality classifications across each fruit and vegetable. However, expenditure elasticities for average quality products were the most elastic of each quality classification across the ten fruits and vegetables. The system also provided evidence of a highly complementary relationship between the demands for high- and low-quality products.

 
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