Short of Time or Short of Money? - A Two-Constraint Demand System on Canadian Food Consumption

We examine a two-constraint Linear Approximate Almost Ideal Demand System with both money and time input in the resource constraints. Using Statistics Canada Food Expenditure Survey (FES) and General Social Survey-time use, a two sample two stage least square (2S2SLS) is applied in the data estimation. The empirical results show most coefficient estimates and own price elasticities are significant. Food at home (FAH) and food away from home (FAFH) are found to be more price elastic compared to a one constraint model, and sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) is found to be more price inelastic. The welfare analysis demonstrates that omitting the time cost in the home food production tends to underestimate the consumer loss after imposing a tax on SSBs.