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If consumers always spend 15% of their income on food, then the income elasticity of demand for food is.?
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If consumers always spend 15% of their income on food, then the income...
Understanding Income Elasticity of Demand for Food
Income elasticity of demand measures how the quantity demanded of a good changes in response to a change in consumer income. It is calculated as the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in income.

Constant Spending on Food
- If consumers consistently spend 15% of their income on food, their food expenditure does not vary with income changes. This indicates that no matter how income fluctuates, the proportion spent on food remains constant.

Income Elasticity Calculation
- The formula for income elasticity of demand (E) is:
E = (% Change in Quantity Demanded) / (% Change in Income)
- In this scenario, since the expenditure on food is fixed at 15% of income, the percentage change in quantity demanded is zero when income changes.

Resulting Elasticity Value
- Consequently, if the quantity demanded does not change as income changes, the income elasticity of demand for food is:
E = 0 / (% Change in Income) = 0

Interpretation of Zero Elasticity
- An income elasticity of zero implies that food is a necessity for consumers. Regardless of how their income fluctuates, they maintain consistent spending on food, indicating that food demand is not sensitive to income changes.
- This characteristic is typical of essential goods, where demand remains stable despite variations in consumer income levels.

Conclusion
In conclusion, when consumers consistently allocate 15% of their income to food, the income elasticity of demand for food is zero, reflecting its status as a necessary expense that does not change with income variations.
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In a poor country like India, as income rises people first concentrate on increasing their consumption of what they regard as basic or more essential consumer goods. For the poor, these goods would primarily include cereals and for people at successive levels of higher income protective foods, simple non-food consumer goods, more modern, better quality non-food consumer goods and simple consumer durables, better quality consumer goods, and so on. When the demand for basic and more essential consumer goods is more or less met, demand for the next higher level of consumer goods begins to impinge on consumer decision making and their consumption increases. There is thus a hierarchy of income levels and a hierarchy of consumer goods. As incomes rise and one approaches the turning point referred to, there is an upward movement along the hierarchy in the demand for consumer goods which exhibits itself in a relative increase in the demand for these goods. If one examines the past consumption behaviour of households in India, one finds confirmation of the proposition just made. Until the mid seventies one notices a rise in the proportion of consumption expenditure on cereals, and thereafter, a steady decline reflecting a progressive increase in the relative expenditure on non-cereal or protective foods. About the same time the rising trend in the share of food in total consumption expenditure also begins to decline, raising the proportion of expenditure on non-food consumer goods. Simultaneously one also notices a sharper rise in the proportion of expenditure on consumer durables. Thus, what one sees is an upward movement in consumer demand along the hierarchy of consumer goods which amounts to a major change in consumer behaviour.Prices of protective food have risen because

In a poor country like India, as income rises people first concentrate on increasing their consumption of what they regard as basic or more essential consumer goods. For the poor, these goods would primarily include cereals and for people at successive levels of higher income protective foods, simple non-food consumer goods, more modern, better quality non-food consumer goods and simple consumer durables, better quality consumer goods, and so on. When the demand for basic and more essential consumer goods is more or less met, demand for the next higher level of consumer goods begins to impinge on consumer decision making and their consumption increases. There is thus a hierarchy of income levels and a hierarchy of consumer goods. As incomes rise and one approaches the turning point referred to, there is an upward movement along the hierarchy in the demand for consumer goods which exhibits itself in a relative increase in the demand for these goods. If one examines the past consumption behaviour of households in India, one finds confirmation of the proposition just made. Until the mid seventies one notices a rise in the proportion of consumption expenditure on cereals, and thereafter, a steady decline reflecting a progressive increase in the relative expenditure on non-cereal or protective foods. About the same time the rising trend in the share of food in total consumption expenditure also begins to decline, raising the proportion of expenditure on non-food consumer goods. Simultaneously one also notices a sharper rise in the proportion of expenditure on consumer durables. Thus, what one sees is an upward movement in consumer demand along the hierarchy of consumer goods which amounts to a major change in consumer behaviour.As income rises in a poor country like India, the poor people concentrate on increasing their consumption of

In a poor country like India, as income rises people first concentrate on increasing their consumption of what they regard as basic or more essential consumer goods. For the poor, these goods would primarily include cereals and for people at successive levels of higher income protective foods, simple non-food consumer goods, more modern, better quality non-food consumer goods and simple consumer durables, better quality consumer goods, and so on. When the demand for basic and more essential consumer goods is more or less met, demand for the next higher level of consumer goods begins to impinge on consumer decision making and their consumption increases. There is thus a hierarchy of income levels and a hierarchy of consumer goods. As incomes rise and one approaches the turning point referred to, there is an upward movement along the hierarchy in the demand for consumer goods which exhibits itself in a relative increase in the demand for these goods. If one examines the past consumption behaviour of households in India, one finds confirmation of the proposition just made. Until the mid seventies one notices a rise in the proportion of consumption expenditure on cereals, and thereafter, a steady decline reflecting a progressive increase in the relative expenditure on non-cereal or protective foods. About the same time the rising trend in the share of food in total consumption expenditure also begins to decline, raising the proportion of expenditure on non-food consumer goods. Simultaneously one also notices a sharper rise in the proportion of expenditure on consumer durables. Thus, what one sees is an upward movement in consumer demand along the hierarchy of consumer goods which amounts to a major change in consumer behaviour.Whenever there is a decline in the proportion of consumption expenditure on cereals

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If consumers always spend 15% of their income on food, then the income elasticity of demand for food is.?
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