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Nutrition Transition and Changing Food Preferences in India
Author(s) -
Law Cherry,
Fraser Iain,
Piracha Matloob
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.157
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1477-9552
pISSN - 0021-857X
DOI - 10.1111/1477-9552.12322
Subject(s) - economics , empirical evidence , household income , agricultural economics , nutrition transition , demographic economics , geography , biology , obesity , philosophy , archaeology , epistemology , endocrinology , overweight
We present empirical evidence on how changes in food preferences have contributed to nutrition transition, where the dietary pattern of households shifts away from traditional staples. Using household‐level time series cross‐section survey data for India, we estimate time varying demand elasticities, revealing evidence of the declining importance of cereals in Indian household diets. The estimates show that Indian demand for cereals has become more income inelastic and price elastic. We also find that cereals are a substitute rather than a complement to animal products in household diets. Since changes in elasticities can only be attributed to variation in utility parameters, this indicates that cereals are losing favour with Indian households. These findings have implications for Indian food policy design and implementation.