An analysis of at-home demand for ice cream in the United States

Ice cream has been manufactured commercially in the United States since the middle of the 19th century. Ice cream and frozen dessert products comprise an important and relatively stable component of the United States dairy industry. As with many other dairy products, ice cream is differentiated in several dimensions. A censored translog demand system model was employed to analyze purchases of 3 ice cream product categories. The objective of this study was to determine the effect that changes in retail prices and consumer income have on at-home ice cream consumption. The analysis was based on Nielsen 2005 home scan retail data and used marital status, age, race, education, female employment status, and location in the estimations of aggregate demand elasticities. Results revealed that price and consumer income were the main determinants of demand for ice cream products. Calculated own-price elasticities indicated relatively elastic responses by consumers for all categories except for compensated bulk ice cream. All expenditure elasticities were inelastic except for bulk ice cream, and most of the ice cream categories were substitutes. Ongoing efforts to examine consumer demand for these products will assist milk producers, dairy processors and manufacturers, and dairy marketers as they face changing consumer responses to food and diet issues.Nielsen home scan retail data; dairy demand; elasticity; ice cream

An analysis of at-home demand for ice cream in the United States

Ice cream has been manufactured commercially in the United States since the middle of the 19th century. Ice cream and frozen dessert products comprise an important and relatively stable component of the United States dairy industry. As with many other dairy products, ice cream is differentiated in several dimensions. A censored translog demand system model was employed to analyze purchases of 3 ice cream product categories. The objective of this study was to determine the effect that changes in retail prices and consumer income have on at-home ice cream consumption. The analysis was based on Nielsen 2005 home scan retail data and used marital status, age, race, education, female employment status, and location in the estimations of aggregate demand elasticities. Results revealed that price and consumer income were the main determinants of demand for ice cream products. Calculated own-price elasticities indicated relatively elastic responses by consumers for all categories except for compensated bulk ice cream. All expenditure elasticities were inelastic except for bulk ice cream, and most of the ice cream categories were substitutes. Ongoing efforts to examine consumer demand for these products will assist milk producers, dairy processors and manufacturers, and dairy marketers as they face changing consumer responses to food and diet issues

Tinnitus

Tinnitus is a prevalent experience and, for those who are troubled by it, it can be debilitating. Risk factors include hearing loss, ototoxic medication, head injury and depression, and at presentation the possibility of otologic disease and of anxiety/depression should be considered. Effective drug treatments have proven elusive, though this is a vibrant theme in tinnitus research. Surgical intervention for any otological pathology associated with tinnitus may be effective for that condition, but the tinnitus may persist. Presently available treatments include the provision of hearing aids when a hearing loss is identified (even when mild or unilateral), wide band sound therapy and counselling. In some patients, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is indicated though availability of tinnitus specific CBT is limited in the UK. Of these treatments the evidence base is strongest for a combination of sound therapy and CBT based counselling, though clinical trials are constrained by the heterogeneity of the tinnitus patient population. Research into mechanisms of tinnitus and effective treatments now abounds, and progress is keenly anticipated

Milk and Biotechnology: Maintaining Safe, Adequate Mille Supplies

Amid unparalleled coverage of the introduction of a new technology for milk production, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved in late 1993 a synthetically produced hormone for cowscalled recombinant bovine somatotropin, or rbST-for commercial sale in the United States. Consumer-watch groups questioned the safety of milk and dairy products for human consumption from dairy cows receiving rbST, and some dairy suppliers and grocery stores indicated that they would not sell the products. Many want products made with milk from cows receiving rbST to carry labels. FDA, the Federal agency primarily responsible for determining the safety of new animal drugs and for labels on milk and dairy products, says these fears are unfounded. After considerable testing (the first study reporting results of rbST-supplementation of dairy cows was in 1982), they found rbST use to be safe to dairy cows and they found dairy products made with milkfrom treated cows to be safe for human consumption. The FDA Commissioner, David A. Kessler, has stated, "This has been one of the most extensively studied animal drug products to be reviewed by the agency. The public can be confident that milk and meat from bST-treated cows is safe to consume.

Economic Models for Dairy Policy Analysis: Issues and Applications, A Workshop Proceedings

Policy analysis of the U.S. dairy industry is of interest to dairy economists and analysts, both inside and outside government. A workshop on modeling the U.S. dairy industry was held by the NC-198 regional research committee on October 31, 1991. Five papers were presented, covering theoretical and empirical issues related to modeling the U.S. dairy industry for policy analysis. The theoretical issues covered related to statistical estimation of model parameters. Alternative dairy industry simulation models, spatial equilibrium models, and a study based on the linkage of existing models were discussed

An empirical example of nonparametric analysis in rural development research

Agricultural economics research may pose problems of how to use limited, diverse information to draw inferences for larger populations. Non parametric statistical procedures are useful when data cannot be analyzed by parametric means. A rural development problem illustrates nonparametric techniques for testing a distributional hypothesis and establishing service cost confidence bounds