Models of Expenditure Systems for Kenya

Williamson, C. & Shah, M.M. (1981). Models of Expenditure Systems for Kenya. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-81-071

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Abstract

Understanding the nature and dimensions of the world food problem and the policies available to alleviate it has been the focal point of the IIASA Food and Agriculture Program since it began in 1977.

National food systems are highly interdependent, and yet the major policy options exist at the national level. Therefore, to explore these options, it is necessary both to develop policy models for national economies and to link them together by trade and capital transfers. For greater realism the models in this scheme are being kept descriptive, rather than normative. In the end it is proposed to link models to twenty countries, which together account for nearly 80 per cent of such important agricultural attributes as area, production, population, exports, and imports.

A model for Kenya is being developed at IIASA. This model will provide a prototype for African developing countries with growing populations and emerging development problems.

The present report describes the analysis and modeling of expenditure systems for Kenya. For the evaluation of alternative agricultural policies, one needs a demand system that reflects the expenditure and consumption patterns in the country. In the context of Kenya the rural-urban dimension as well as the respective income distributions have to be explicitly considered. The study is the second in a set of studies which analyze the food consumption system in Kenya.

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