Quantitative analysis of consumer behaviour is necessary for demand projections, macro-models and economic planning in general. An econometric analysis of consumer’s demand based on primary data collected from households in rural Bangladesh is attempted in this paper. Alternative hypotheses regarding demand function are tested. Effect of foreign remittances and that of the process of urbanization on the consumption pattern of the rural people of Bangladesh has also been analysed.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse some aspects related to poverty alleviation of the most disadvantaged in an economy characterised by traditional agriculture. It focuses of certain issues of contemporary relevance and operational significance in specific Bangladesh context. The paper first examines the term “most disadvantaged” to draw its equivalence with usual poverty indicators like “nutritional deficiency”. The paper then goes on to examine some correlates of poverty and the prospects for improving the conditions of the poor. It is argued that because of the limits on alternative ways of improving the conditions of the most disadvantaged, promotion of non-farm employment is perhaps the only major way of alleviating poverty and improving the levels of living of the poorest. It is pointed out that research on non-farm employment is yet to address all the issues of relevance and that some of these need to be addressed urgently.
This article is based on data collected through two household surveys carried out during 1977/78 and 1983/84 in two villages of Bangladesh. Fertilizer consumption has increased over the 1977-84 period by about 68 per cent. All categories of farms experienced rapid growth but performance of the small farms is better in terms of use per acre of cropped land. This increase in fertilizer use is primarily a result of (i) changes in the cropping pattern from low fertilizer consuming crops to high consuming crops, (ii) increase in the proportion of crop area fertilized and (iii) rise in the number of fertilizer users. Their combined effects have more than off-set the decline in the intensity of application on HYVs, Aus and jute. During this period 1977-84, the proportion of area under HYV paddy and mustard increased substantially. Fertilizer use has also become more balanced. There is little inter-farm variation in prices except the periods of scarcity when small farms paid higher prices.
On the basis of theoretical and empirical studies one can suggest that foreign capital inflow may have either a positive or negative effect on domestic saving. Using the single equation method (SEM) Alamgir (1974) has found a positive relationship between domestic saving and foreign capital inflow in the case of Bangladesh. But his findings are different from those of the author, because using the SEM the author has obtained a significantly negative relationship between them. But the single equation estimate considers only the direct effect of foreign capital inflow on domestic saving. For this reason the author has considered the indirect effect, in addition, by using the Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) method. As a result of the use of the 2SLS method, the author has obtained a non-negative effect of foreign capital inflow on domestic saving in the case of Bangladesh. The non-negative effect suggests that the government of Bangladesh did not relax its saving was not substituted by foreign capital inflow. Furthermore, it does not preclude the possibility of a complementary relationship between domestic saving and foreign capital inflow.
