A new set of consumer demand estimates for Ireland

Abstract

This paper provides a new set of consumer demand estimates for Ireland, incorporating a variety of different consumer demand models. Own-price and expenditure elasticities are presented and tests of the propositions implied by utility-maximisation are carried out, including the use of small-sample corrections. The results obtained show reasonable agreement across the different deterministic models but stochastic and dynamic specification appears to be of crucial importance both for plausibility of estimates obtained and for rejection or non-rejection of the restrictions implied by utility-maximisation.