About
Agricultural economists often require information and estimates
on
price and
income elasticities for their research and analysis. The ERS
Commodity and Food Elasticities Database is a collection of
elasticities from research on consumer demand published in working
papers, dissertations, and peer-reviewed journals and as presented
at professional conferences in the United States. Most of the
literature is from academic and government research conducted in
the United States. (See
Literature Sources in the Documentation for more
information.)
The database allows queriable searches of income, expenditure,
and own- and cross-price elasticities for specific commodities and
countries, which can be ranked and sorted. Elasticities for fruits,
vegetables, meats, grains, oilseeds, and some processed food are
included. (See
Scope of Database in the Documentation for more information.)
Bibliographic information for the demand elasticities-such as
author and journal citation, type of demand system, properties
satisfied, and type of data-is also included. Query results can be
saved in Microsoft Excel or Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
How To Use the Database provides a step-by-step guide on how to
use the Demand Elasticities
from Literature query page to retrieve elasticities in the
database, access supporting information, and download the
results.
Why This Product Is Important
Having a database of price, income, and expenditure elasticities
of demand for major commodities and trading countries enables more
accurate research on production, consumption, and trade. The
ability to search by commodity and country in combination may
facilitate targeted comparisons of price (own-price and
cross-price) and income elasticities derived from widely used
elasticity models.
The database will be useful to researchers estimating demand
systems, to applied researchers developing models, and to industry
analysts. Researchers doing demand estimations may use this
database to compare their results to the range of elasticities
provided for different commodities. Researchers developing models
may compare their current models to the range of elasticities in
the database. Industry analysts may use elasticities for quick
market analysis when, for example, trade patterns change due to a
plant or animal disease outbreak.
Disclaimer
The database is not complete. It focuses on price, income, and
expenditure elasticities of demand. Most of the demand elasticities
in the database are from academic and government research conducted
in the United States on consumer demand, as published in working
papers, dissertations, and peer-reviewed journals and as presented
at professional conferences in the United States. The database is
meant as a research tool for the economics community and is not a
definitive collection of elasticities.
If you find an error in the database, please notify the contacts
below. Please specify the exact location and item in the database
that needs to be corrected. A future version of the database will
include instructions on how users can add elasticities to the
database from published, peer-reviewed sources.