Estimating household food budget shares and Engel’s food coefficient in a lean food supply month in Ghana: a micro data analysis

Abstract

Using the 2017 Ghana Living Standards Survey Round Seven data, this study used the Working-Leser linear model on demographic and household specific variables to determine the lean food season month of July household food budget share, Engel food coefficient, marginal food budget share and food expenditure elasticity. The results demonstrate that a 10% increase in monthly household income decreases the share of the monthly household food budget by -0.0117 of a percentage point on average, and ceteris paribus, and the evidence shows that the underlying household July month Engel food curve is characterized by an inverse link between household monthly food budget share and the household monthly total income. The findings statistically established that food is a necessary commodity and the food demand elasticity assessment showed that a 10% increase in household spending would increase household monthly food needs by an average of 9.8%, and ceteris paribus.