This paper estimates price and food expenditure elasticities of demand for twelve food groups in Tanzania by applying the linearized Almost Ideal Demand system to the latest household survey data. In estimation, particular attention is paid to the presence of zero expenditure and the effects of demographic characteristics on food demand patterns. The results indicate that maize, rice, other cereals, pulses, sugar, edible oils, fish, starch, fruits and vegetables, meat, and other foods are price inelastic while milk and dairy products have unitary elasticity of demand. Most of the food groups are income elastic. The results also reveal that household income and family size have significant effects on food demand patterns. Main policy implications of the results include inter alia (a) income oriented policies will have a greater effect on promoting food consumption than price related policies, (2) a significant price decline associated with increased production of maize and rice will benefit a majority of households since the two commodities have high budget shares and low own-price elasticities of demand, and (3) meat was found to be inelastic with respect to the expenditure on food.

This paper investigates the long-run demand for money and short-run dynamics of the long-run money demand function for Sri Lanka during the post-1977 period. While M1 is cointegrated with real income, nominal interest rate, short-term foreign interest rate, and real effective exchange rate, M2 is not. This suggests that monetary authorities should emphasize the narrow definition of money for monetary control. The one year fixed deposits rate is cointegrated with M1, indicating the opportunity cost of holding money. Although the inflation rate is not cointegrated with M1, it seems to be an important determinant of the demand for M1 in the short-run. Results also suggest that the short-term foreign interest rate and the exchange rate can have important implications for the effectiveness of monetary policy. Monetary authorities must consider the response of domestic money demand to these external factors when formulating future monetary policies.

We develop a model to examine competitive conditions in the U.S. food retailing industry for the years 1967 to 1992 and the effect of financial leverage on industry cost conditions. Changes in total current liabilities contributed to increases in costs while increases in long-term debt were associated with lower costs. The impacts of key technological and market developments on shifts in the competitive index are assessed. The estimated index of market power was low, although significantly different from the perfect competition benchmark of zero from 1983 to 1992. The slight decline in competitive conditions was associated with mergers and acquisitions activity in food retailing. Nous avons élaboré un modèle mathématique pour examiner: 1) les conditions de concurrentialité agissant dans le marché au détail des aliments aux États-Unis durant la période s'étendant de 1967 à 1992 et 2) l'effet du poids financier sur les conditions de coût du secteur. Les modifications de l'endettement total courant contribuent à accroître les coûts, tandis que les accroissements de l'endettement à long terme auraient plutôt l'effet inverse. Nous examinons l'impact des développements dans les domainesde la technologie et du marché sur les fluctuations de l'indice concurrentiel. L'indice estimatif de pouvoir sur le marché était bas bien que significativement différent de la marque repère de zéro (situation de concurrence parfaite) pour les années 1983-1992. La légère baisse des conditions de compétitivité est expliquée par les nombreuses fusions et acquisitions survenues dans le marché au détail des aliments durant cette période.

This paper reexamines supply response in the Northeastern fresh tomato market during the 1949–94 period by employing cointegration and error correction technique. It tests whether there has been a long-run equilibrium relationship between Northeastern production and a set of price and nonprice factors that influence it. Findings suggest that wage rate, imports from competing regions, and urban pressure have had significant negative impacts on regional production. The negative relationship between price and production may have resulted from the strong negative effects exerted by the nonprice factors.

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