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Demand for Wine and Alcoholic Beverages in the European Union: A Monolithic Market?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2016

Lorraine Mitchell*
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 1400 Independence Ave. SW, Mail Stop 1800, Washington, DC 20250; e-mail: lmitchel@ers.usda.gov

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is a major producer, importer, and consumer of wine, as well as other alcoholic beverages. Although it is possible to characterize demand for the EU as a whole, there is variation across the 27 countries that make up the EU. This research uses a simple standard model of demand and some descriptive statistics to characterize demand for alcoholic beverages and to identify four separate subgroups within the EU with different characteristics of wine and beer demand. Changing tastes over time turn out to be important in determining demand. (JEL Classifications: D12, F1, F15)

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2016 

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Footnotes

*

The author would like to thank Andrew Muhammad, two anonymous reviewers, and participants at the 2013 American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the Economic Research Service or USDA.

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