Higher cost of living in urban areas? An AIDS-based analysis of food in Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACTHigher cost of living in urban areas? An AIDS-based analysis of food in Spain. Regional Studies. This article measures the urban–rural gap in the consumption costs for Spain in 2013, basing the comparisons on the estimation of an almost ideal demand system (AIDS) of food from data on the household budget survey. Besides an unconditional comparison, it models the costs of food consumption controlling for household and location characteristics. Quantile regressions are estimated in order to quantify differential effects across the distribution of the cost of food. The estimated differences in cost for consumers living in urban areas are significantly positive, especially in the upper quantiles of the distribution.