Abstract
The topic of structural change in demand for food is budget constraint-and factors affecting them-are part so broad that it is not surprising that Haidacher chose of the demand structure. to focus on the conceptual basis of structural change Composition of the population can also be an imrather than specific causes of structural change in de- portant dimension of the structure. Haidacher only mand for food. Haidacher first defines what he means mentions this aggregation problem in passing. When by demand structure. Second, he gives two examples working with aggregate data, we should not forget that on how to implement this framework empirically. the general restrictions of consumer behavior-homoThird, he discusses problems of assessing changes in geneity, symmetry, and adding-up, only hold strictly demand structure, emphasizing the intractabilty of ob- for individuals, and that market demand-even when taining direct evidence on structural change. Finally, formulated in terms of a representative conhe proposes and illustrates what he calls an indirect sumer-still depends on the income distribution and approach to assessment of structural change. I will first other characteristics of the consuming population. present a brief overview of the concepts of demand In light of the above definition of structure, one view structure and structural change, derived from Hai- of structural change might be any change in the utility dacher's paper and my own assessment. Then I will function, opportunity set, or composition of the concomment on specific points raised in the paper relating suming population. To the extent that these changes are to the assessment of structural change. Finally, I will not accounted for by theory-through relative price and conclude with some remarks on the usefulness of income changes-this definition seems logical. Howhousehold production theory as a framework for as- ever, as pointed out by Haidacher, this definition is sessing structural change in demand for food. really intractable. This is because if our maintained hypothesis (MH) is no structural change, and we reject
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