Fundamental similarities in consumer behaviour

Diversities and similarities in international consumption patterns are highlighted. A large body of data is used to identify cross-country consumption differences and to understand these in terms of the familiar utility-maximizing framework, in which observed differences in prices and incomes play the key role. Taken as a whole, the results reveal a surprising degree of similarity in international consumption patterns and support the idea that tastes are constant, at least with respect to broad commodity groups.