Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/66893 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
QSEP Research Report No. 447
Publisher: 
McMaster University, Research Institute for Quantitative Studies in Economics and Population (QSEP), Hamilton (Ontario)
Abstract: 
Consumer-related policy decisions often require analysis of aggregate responses or mean elasticities. However, in practice these mean elasticities are seldom used. Mean elasticities can be approximated using aggregate data, but that introduces aggregation bias for full and compensated price elasticities, though interestingly not for expenditure elasticities. The biases corresponding to incorrect approximations of mean elasticities depend on the type of data (micro or aggregate), the type and rank of the model, and generalized measures of income inequality. These biases are distinct from the biases (already noted in the literature) when using aggregate data to estimate micro elasticites at mean income.
Subjects: 
aggregate price and expenditure elasticities
aggregation bias
consumer demand
generalized measures of income inequality
income distribution
JEL: 
D11
C43
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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