Dietary bounds and unshackled demand specifications

Conventional tests of revealed preference axioms (WARP and GARP) may yield false rejections of the hypothesis of a unique preference ordering when consumers face constraints in addition to a budget constraint. In this paper, nonparametric tests of WARP and GARP are generalized for consumers who enforce multiple constraints. In conjunction with conventional tests, the modified tests are used to reject meat demand specifications that are functions solely of price and expenditure variables. Richer specifications that include consumer perceptions of the fat content of meats and the fat constraint value in addition to conventional price and expenditure variables cannot be rejected.