NORTH-AMERICA AS A PRECURSOR OF CHANGES IN WESTERN-EUROPEAN FOOD-PURCHASING PATTERNS

Five economic determinants of food expenditures by households in high-income industrialised countries are identified: three factors derived from neoclassical economics (population growth, income, and relative prices) and two factors given greater weight by business marketing analysts (demographics and food preferences or attitudes). Data collected on 19 specific measures of these determinants indicate that in every case the trends observed in Western Europe parallel those in North America, with some tendency for Northern American trends to begin earlier. Therefore, both total food expenditures and the expenditure mix are expected to converge over time. It is suggested that globalisation of the food processing and distribution industries is likely to be an increasingly influential mechanism of convergence.