Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 January 2015
U.S. cheese consumption has grown considerably over the last three decades.Using a censored demand model and Nielsen Homescan retail data, this studyidentifies price and non-price factors affecting the demand fordifferentiated cheese products. Own-price and expenditure elasticities forall of the cheese products are statistically significant and elastic.Results also reveal that a strong substitution relationship exists among allcheese products. Although demographic influences are generally smaller thanthose related to prices and expenditures, empirical findings show thathousehold size, college educated female heads of household who are age 40and older, residing in the South, Central, and Western regions of the UnitedStates, as well as Black heads of household, have positive statisticallysignificant effects on consumers' cheese purchases.