Markets, institutions and culture patterns of wine consumption in europe, 1850-1950

Abstract

This working-paper describes and tries to anaIize patterns of wine consumption between 1850 and 1950, a period of important structural changes in the economies of Europe. Three sub-periods - 1850-1880; 1880-1914 and 1818-1938- are distinguished to analyze the relation between prices, income and diet changes; England and France are used as case-studies to show increasingly divergent patterns of consumption within country-by-country specific developments. The role of institutions and public choice are stressed as relevant in explaining changes in the supply of wine for retailing; cultural habits and social cleavages are a second source of factors accounting for the demand of wine and for the limited applicability of Engels' s Law in explaining the position of wine in household expenditure through the period.