Estimation of Income, Own- and Cross-Price Elasticities. An Application for Bulgaria

Abstract

In this paper we estimate income elasticities and own- and cross-price elasticities for a number of categories of goods. The methodology used was proposed by Deaton (1987). Expenditure and quantity data from Household Budget Surveys for Bulgaria are used. The households are geographically separated into clusters. The prices are assumed to be the same within each of the clusters, so that the effects of income and other demographic factors on unit values are determined and the variances and covariances of the measurement errors estimated in the first stage. Then, in the second stage, the spatial price variation between the different clusters is used for the estimation of own- and cross-price elasticities for various categories of goods. We report income elasticities and own- and cross-price elasticities for eight goods.Own- and Cross-Price Elasticities, Income Elasticities, Unit Values, Quality Effects