Demand for Dates in Saudi Arabia: An Alternative Specification

Abstract

Estimated demand functions for dates are considered of special importance for determining their consumption due to changes in prices, population and incomes. Few attempts have been carried out in the past to estimate demand function for dates in Saudi Arabia. National income was used to reflect consumers' income, but this variable was found to be statistically insignificant. This study called for estimating demand functions for dates in Saudi Arabia using different functional forms including gross domestic pro-duce per-capita (GDP) and private consumption expenditures per capita as alternative variables representing effect of consumers' income instead of national income. . Results are compared to those of previous studies. This study reveals that GDP is a better measure for income effects in Saudi Arabia compared to private consumption expenditures. Moreover, the semi logarithmic and logarithmic models were found to be better than other different models. Price and income elasticities were computed for all models and demand for dates was found to be inelastic. Income elasticity was low and less than unity