ABSTRACT
Many of the issues related to the consumption of food, soft drinks, tobacco, alcohol and marijuana are common to most countries. In this chapter, we present an overview of the consumption patterns of food, soft drinks, tobacco, alcohol and marijuana using data over time and over various consumer characteristics across countries. The reason for the selection of the five commodities is that, in terms of a consumer’s purchase decision, the first four goods, food, soft drinks, tobacco and alcohol, are closely related while the consumption of the fifth commodity, marijuana, as we will show later in the book, is clearly linked to the consumption of tobacco and alcohol.
