| Abstract: | This paper employs data from a single socio‐economic group within the Indian population to throw some light on three related topics—the impact of urbanization on the demand for food, the nature of the income‐elasticity of expenditure on food for this group, and the importance of particular socio‐economic variables as determinants of the demand for food. The income‐elasticity of demand for food has become liable to maltreatment in the process of development planning; all too often an estimate of this parameter is employed unquestioningly to evaluate the food requirements of developing countries, although it is well known that as incomes rise the income‐elasticity of demand for food falls. The following pages show that, like other characteristics of a developing system, the income‐elasticity of the demand for food is far from being a ‘fixed’ parameter. Firstly, as development proceeds, it is subject to change in a particular manner and direction. Secondly, the particular value of the income‐elasticity is subject to considerable variation within the country at a point in time. Thirdly, other variables than income exert significant pressure on behaviour, as evidenced by food expenditure patterns. |
