Changes in the demand for meat and dairy products in the United States since 1910

Shepherd, Geoffrey

Changes in the demand for meat and dairy products in the United States since 1910

File

Agricultural_Research_Bulletin_v029_b368.pdf (2.14 MB)

Date

2017-06-09

Authors

Shepherd, Geoffrey

Organizational Units

Organizational Unit

Extension and Experiment Station Publications

It can be very challenging to locate information about individual ISU Extension publications via the library website. Quick Search will list the name of the series, but it will not list individual publications within each series. The Parks Library Reference Collection has a List of Current Series, Serial Publications (Series Publications of Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service), published as of March 2004. It lists each publication from 1888-2004 (by title and publication number - and in some cases it will show an author name).

Journal Issue

Changes in the demand for meat and dairy products in the United States since 1910

Department

Extension and Experiment Station Publications

Abstract

The purpose of this bulletin is to determine whether changes have been taking place in the United States' demand for food as a whole, and for several important foods considered separately, over the past 40 years.

The evidence indicates that the trend of total expenditures for food, expressed as percentages of the national disposable income (income minus personal income taxes) declined 5 to 10 percent from 1910 to 1940.

This does not necessarily mean that the demand for food also declined. The price elasticity of the demand for food is less than unity, so total expenditures could have declined merely as a result of the slight increase in the per capita production of food that took place over the period. An increase in production cuts the demand curve at a low point, and, if the demand curve is inelastic, reduces total expenditures as well as prices.