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Praise for this book 

The volume is indeed a solid piece of knowledge and scholarship evolved over five decades. The volume will be very valuable to students of Applied Econometrics in the area of Consumer Behaviour. —Prof. K. L. Krishna, Chairman, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai and Former Professor, Delhi School of Economics, New Delhi, India. This volume titled Essays in the Econometrics of Consumer Behaviour by Prof. Radhakrishna provides clear, rigorous and thorough expositions of the issues involved in the econometric estimation of alternative consumer demand systems. It also gives the estimated parameters and implied expenditure and price elasticities, compares alternative systems and illustrates how they can be used for economic analysis. The book is of great value to policy analysts, students of economics and builders of economic policy models for the Indian economy. Prof. Kirit Parikh, Former Member, Planning Commission; Chairman, IRADe, New Delhi, India. This volume: Essays on the Econometrics of Consumer Behaviour deal with important issues such as the measurement of income and price elasticities, determination of indifference surfaces, estimation of models of complete expenditure systems and the impact of income distribution on demand. This volume reflects Prof. Radhakrishna’s deep understanding of the relevant economic theory, his concerns on critical policy issues in India and his ability in applying the theory for deriving policy prescriptions from observed data. This volume will be of immense value to researchers and policy makers interested in econometric analysis of consumer behavior and consumer welfare both within and outside India. —Prof. U. Sankar, Honorary Professor, Madras School of Economics, Chennai, India. Professor R. Radhakrishna is an authority in Demand analysis with international reputation due to his lucid thinking in modelling and estimating the demand equations with appropriate data. An excellent introduction with a brief synopsis of the contents of the volume is a bonus to the readers. This volume can certainly be used as a text book on Behavioural Economics, which highlights important aspect of human behaviour with respect to consumption. As this volume has not only discussed different demand models theoretically, but also has demonstrated empirically how these models can be used effectively in policymaking, the volume can definitely serve as a reference book on Research Methodology as well. —Prof. K. Kalirajan, Crawford School of Public Policy, Canberra, Australia.   

Contents: Preface. 1. Econometrics of Consumer Behaviour: Context and Overview. 2. A Method of Deriving Price and Income Effects from Family Budget Data.3. On the Theorem of Composite Commodities. 4. On Wald’s Method of Deriving Indifference Surfaces. 5. Derivation of Quadratic Type of Indifference Surfaces by Means of Linear Engel Curves. 6. An Approach to Estimate Complete Set of Demand Elasticities Based on Two-Stage Budgeting: With an Application to the Patterns of Gujarat Demand. 7. Approximate Determination of Indifference Surfaces from Family Budget Data. 8. Demand Functions and their Development Implicationsin a Dual Economy: India. 9. An Application of Indirect Addilog System to Consumer Behaviour in India. 10. Models of Complete Expenditure Systems for India. 11. Food Demand and the Poor in India: Emerging Trends and Perspectives with Liberalisation. 12. Econometrics of Complete Demand Systems with Illustrations for India.