Obesity and other diet-related health conditions have received much attention in the public health literature over the past two decades. This study investigates the relationship between household food budget shares at different food outlets with diet quality and weight-related health outcomes in the United States. Our analysis used event-level food purchase data from the national household food acquisition and purchases survey (FoodAPS). We find that, after controlling for observables, food purchase location is significantly associated with diet quality and body mass index (BMI). Our findings indicate that larger food budget shares at convenience stores and restaurants are linked with poor diet quality based on the healthy eating index-2015 (HEI-2015) scores and higher BMI. We further explored potential heterogeneity on outcomes of interest across income groups. Results suggest heterogeneous effects may exist across income groups: low-income households, who spent a larger share of their food budget at convenience stores and fast-food restaurants are related to poor diet quality and more likely to be obese. Our findings will help improve understanding of the causes of diet-related health problems and may illuminate potential avenues of intervention to address obesity.

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This study examines the uncertainty‐agricultural trade nexus. Uncertainty effects on macroeconomic indicators such as consumption and investment have been well studied. However, less is known about the relationship between uncertainty and international trade, particularly the heterogeneity of that linkage across sectors. Application of a novel data‐driven methodology—anomaly detection and classification via a Naïve Bayesian Classifier—to monthly data at the HS‐4 level finds that agricultural imports are reduced when economic policy uncertainty is high. The effects of policy‐related uncertainty are more persistent than that of supply‐side fluctuations. Anticipatory stock‐piling occurred when uncertainty is specific to trade policy.