Food expenditure measures to supplement net energy ratios for selected countries 1961-2011

This thesis focuses on the relationship between food expenditures and the economy. In analogous fashion to Maxwell 2013 which calculated energy expenditures as a percentage of national and global gross domestic product (GDP), this thesis examined three available food expenditure datasets to study the relationship between food expenditures as a percentage of GDP and economic growth. The analysis calculated two metrics, Primary Consumption Expenditures and Final Consumption Expenditures which were used to compare the available datasets and create a more robust hybrid dataset containing data for 178 countries with an average time span of 40 years that was used to study the relationship between global economic growth and food expenditures. Historical evidence does not suggest that food has imposed a limit on economic growth; however, recent trends over the past decade associated with biofuel production suggest the global economy has entered a new era with rapidly rising food prices and expenditures. As food resources continue to be used as industrial energy inputs, it is critical to include food expenditures in further analysis of potential impacts energy expenditures may have on economic growth.