Quantifying the impact of economic growth on meat consumption

Abstract

(update: see https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/EztxZhPQ8Qv8xWe3v/kbog-did-an-oopsie-new-meat-eater-problem-numbers)

I decided to do some analysis to gain insight on the impact of economic growth on meat consumption in the developing world, which has occasionally been discussed in the past. First I took the finding of York and Gossard (2004) that for every $1,000 increase in per capita PPP GDP, African countries consume 1.66 kg more meat per person per year.1 For some perspective on the significance of that difference in GDP, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita.