published_or_final_version / Ecology and Biodiversity / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Ecology and Biodiversity / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

published_or_final_version / Biological Sciences / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Ecology and Biodiversity / Master / Master of Philosophy

Sun, Fenghua. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-204). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

China's economic success has helped it become one of the largest markets in the world. As a result, the demand for agricultural commodities in China has experienced a significant increase. Increasingly affluent Chinese people are paying increasing attention to food safety and quality instead of just quantity. Understanding how meat demands and prices are related to food safety and quality in Beijing will provide guidance for industry and policymakers interested in the Chinese meat market. The purpose of this study is to develop two models to analyze meat demand and prices associated with food safety and quality respectively. First, An Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) is used to investigate the effects of food safety on meat consumption. To address the potential bias of zero consumption in the estimation procedures, a simulated maximum likelihood (SML) estimation is applied in the regression. Second, we analyze the implicit price of meat with the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes using a hedonic price model. Five meat categories are regressed on several intrinsic and extrinsic attributes in the model using household survey data collected in Beijing in 2007. The key results of this research have two major outcomes. First, food safety has a significant and positive influence on meat consumption for Beijing residents. Second, the quality-related attributes or characteristics such as meat appearance, supermarket, meat brand, and processed meat as well as demographic variables such as household head's income have a significantly positive influence on the price of meat, which suggest that the consumers in Beijing are willing to pay a price premium to guarantee the quality and safety of meat.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Ecology and Biodiversity / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Environmental Management / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy