An econometric method of forecasting the demand for food in Ireland in 1970

Abstract

In the present decade, there are two major factors that can be expected to affect the demand for food in Ireland; the first is the country's becoming part of the European Economic Community, the second is the attainment of the target rate of economic growth aimed at in the official Second Programme for Economic Expansion. When the first of these events comes to pass, Irish consumers will be confronted by a completely new series of retail prices for food, and how they are likely to respond to these prices is the main question that the present paper attempts to answer. In addition, the demand for food on the home market can be expected to depend on the future level of (a) income, (b) population, and the combined effects of these variables on demand is the second question dealt with in the paper.