THE DEMAND FOR VEGETABLES IN BELGIUM, BASED ON PANEL DATA

In recent years, it has been accepted that the variation in consumption of vegetables can be explained not only by economic factors such as prices and income, but also by a range of socio-cultural elements such as the size and composition of the household, the social class to which the family belongs as well as the region in which it lives and the degree of urbanisation of its environment.
An understanding of the underlying causes of this variation is of considerable interest both from a theoretical and a practical standpoint ; e.g. the economic analysis as well as the formulation of a relevant economic policy need accurate estimates of income and price elasticities in order to use them for predictive purposes and market segmentation.

Thus economic factors alone cannot explain the full variation in expenditure.
Elements from other disciplines (psychology, sociology and anthropology) are needed in order to specify correctly a model for a cross-section analysis of household expenditure.

V Symposium on Horticultural Economics

M. Beddegenoodts, V. Nijs, J. Vertessen

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1978.77.25