[lbo-talk] Re: Pollan/Obesity in Canada

[Michael Perelman]

You are correct about the steady decline, which was constantly talked
about in ag. econ classes that I took in the 1960s.  You can get a rough
idea of what was happening by looking at the proportion of people that
worked on the farms, although that approach is biased because over time
farmers purchased more and more farm inputs rather than producing them on
the farm.

On Mon, Oct 13, 2003 at 05:56:33PM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
> 
> I haven't updated my spreadsheet in a while, but according to the 
> BLS's Consumer Expenditure Survey (which is the raw material for what 
> most marketers rely on), households spent 15.9% of after-tax income 
> on food in 1984, and 13.9% in 2000. I don't have pre-84 data here, 
> but I do know it was about 33% in the 1950s. I think it's been more 
> of a steady decline than a sudden drop-off in the Butz era.
> 

-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu