Import Demand for Shelled Peanuts in the European Union: Impacts of the U.S. Export Promotion Program

The objective of this study is to propose a system of input demand functions consistent with the theory of the firm where promotion is treated as an information input in the production function. The empirical model is applied to the European Union (EU) input demand for shelled peanuts. The information input is measured as Euros spent on the U.S. Foreign Market Development program (FMD) on peanuts by the U.S. in the EU market. We find that the FMD program had a positive effect on the EU demand for U.S. shelled peanuts. This result suggests that the information provided to manufactures through the FMD has helped to increase the demand for shelled U.S. peanuts in the EU markets. The estimated marginal return of U.S. export promotion expenditures on the FMD program is 240 Euros.