Impacts of socioeconomic and demographic factors on household expenditure for disaggregate fish and shellfish in the United States

As the popularity for seafood in the United States continues to grow, information about consumer patterns of fishery products will be a valuable aid to various groups in the seafood industry. The primary objective of this dissertation is to provide quantitative information, notably own price, income, and household size elasticity measures, about consumer behavior relating to specific fish and shellfish products.

The methodology used in this study is as follows: (1) organize and analyze at-home seafood consumption data for specific finfish and shellfish species by three product forms (canned, fresh and fresh frozen, and other prepared) from the 1981 Seafood Consumption Survey: (i) finfish -- cod, flounder (or sole), haddock, herring, mackerel, perch, pollock, salmon, sardines, snapper, tuna, whiting, total finfish, and (ii) shellfish -- clams, crabs, oysters, scallops, shrimp, and total shellfish; (2) identify and assess the factors that affect household expenditure on these products for home consumption, and (3) compare the results of this research to those from previously published works.

Price and coupon value are the dominant factors in explaining the variation of household expenditure on seafood commodities for at-home consumption. All price elasticities are negative and in the inelastic range except for fresh and fresh frozen oysters and canned tuna. These results suggest that for almost all shellfish and finfish species, unit percentage changes in product availability lead to greater than unit percentage changes in product prices. Coupon values, as expected, have significant positive impacts on household expenditures for seafood commodities for at-home consumption. Except for scallops, all shellfish products are normal goods, while the nature of the income effects for finfish products is mixed. Generally, household size elasticities are not only positive but also less than unity.

Significant differences exist in household expenditures for fishery products due to geographic region, urbanization, employment status and age of the household manager, race, and season. Finally, households spend significantly less on all categories of canned fishery products, but more on fresh and fresh frozen shellfish, at the supermarket and the grocery store than at other seafood outlets. Occupation and education of the household head and religious affiliation are not generally statistically important factors in explaining the variation in household expenditure on fish and shellfish products.