Structural Change via Threshold Effects: Estimating U.S. Meat Demand Using Smooth Transition Functions and the Effects of More Women in the Labor Force

Structural change remains a contentious issue in the literature. This study focuses on analyzing structural change in consumer demand for meats, which are modeled over the past half century. A standard inverse demand model is combined with a variant of the Smooth Transition Autoregressive (STAR) model. Results indicate that structural change has occurred and that consumers' preferences for meat are sensitive to the female labor participation rate.