This paper estimates a demand system for a selected tropical fresh fruit and vegetable imports in to the U.S. using a Linear Approximate Almost Ideal Demand Systems model for the period 1989-2008. Further the paper attempts to capture trade policy and seasonality effects that affect the demand...

"Commodity promotion" consists of many activities, each designed to contribute to a consumer's product knowledge or influence tastes. However, both knowledge and tastes are unobservable, or latent, variables influencing demand. This paper specifies a dynamic structural model of fresh fruit...

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models are increasingly being used to project world food markets in order to support forward-looking policy analysis. Such projections hinge critically on the underlying functional form for representing consumer demand. Simple functional forms can lead to...

"Commodity promotion" consists of many activities, each designed to contribute to a consumer's product knowledge or influence tastes. However, both knowledge and tastes are unobservable, or latent, variables influencing demand. This paper specifies a dynamic structural model of fresh fruit...

Researchers prefer to use a demand system that best fits their data. This paper examines a nonnested test of comparison between the quadratic expenditure system (QES) and the almost ideal demand system (AIDS). We determine which model is more suitable by analyzing the value and the significance...

In developing countries, where health insurance is not a commonly purchased nancial instrument, recent debates have revolved around extending health insurance coverage to a wider range of the population, primarily via compulsory insurance schemes. However, these debates rarely consider the...

Many studies of producer behavior consider cost and input demand functions derived from microeconomic theory and estimate them on the basis of aggregate data. If the characteristics of the firms differ, the negligence of heterogeneity can lead to estimation bias. An alternative is to restrict...

The value added tax (VAT) rates have recently changed in the Czech Republic, and in this paper I simulate the impact of these reforms. They are an example of changes in indirect taxes that change the prices of goods and services, to which households can respond by adjusting their expenditures. I...

On the basis of local concavity assumptions, Exact Affine Stone Index implicit Marshallian demand system is adopted to analyze Engel Curves and price elasticity for Chinese urban household. Our results show that a demand system rank can be polynomials or splines of any order which support the...