Empirical analysis of household consumption expenditures provides information that is of critical importance for many policy issues. Estimated demand parameters are of interest not only from the purely behavioral aspects of demand projection, but also because of their usefulness in the analysis of welfare, inequality, and poverty in a society. Further, information on household demand parameters, especially the estimated equivalence scales and demographic demand parameters, are of critical importance for public policy formulations For example, designing and implementation of new and incentive-compatible tax and subsidy policies, and social transfer programs (to alleviate poverty in targeted segments of the society) require reliable estimates of the demand parameters.