Health information and the demand for meat in Spain

This paper analyses whether the growing amount of information about the relationship between diet and health has had an impact on the demand for different types of meat and fish in Spain. To achieve this objective, a health information index. based on the number of papers published in the MEDLINE database, is introduced into a 'CBS' system of demand equations. Given the time series properties of the variables, a cointegrated CBS model is estimated. Meat demand and health information elasticities are calculated. Results indicate that, in the case of Spain, health information elasticities are significant, having a positive effect on fish and poultry and a negative effect on beef and pork.