Does a nutritious diet cost more in food deserts?

Abstract

Food deserts and their potential effects on diet and nutrition have received much attention from policymakers. While some research has found a correlation between food deserts and consumer outcomes, it is unclear whether food deserts truly affect consumer choices. In this article, we compare food prices in food deserts, defined as low-income, low-access census tracts, and nonfood deserts to observe whether and to what extent consumers face higher prices for a complete diet in food deserts. If a nutritionally complete diet costs significantly more in food deserts, resident consumers may be constrained from consuming healthier foods. We use store-level scanner data from a nationally representative sample and calculate a census-tract level Exact Price Index (EPI) based on a food basket defined by the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP). The EPI addresses potential biases from both product heterogeneity and variety availability. We find that the overall price impact of living in a food desert is small; low-access areas have only 3.5% higher EPI than high-access counterparts. However, consumers who are constrained to shop within their own census tracts face a much higher EPI than high-access counterparts (9.2%). The higher EPI primarily comes from lower variety availability in food deserts.JEL classifications: D40, I3, L66, Q18, R32

A Qualitative Study on the Perspectives of Latinas Enrolled in a Diabetes Prevention Program: Is the Cost of Prevention Too High?

“…54,55 Higher cost of healthy foods in "food deserts" and more access to fast foods in Latino neighborhoods have been reported elsewhere. 56,57 Thus, the challenge of finding healthy food would be expected. Although a case could be made for the sale of certain foods in these neighborhoods based on cultural food preferences (applying the law of supply and demand), our study shows that when Latinas chose to eat healthy, their food choices were limited.…”

Urban sprawl and the emergence of food deserts in the USA

“…The FARA contains a comprehensive and proprietary directory of supermarkets and large grocery stores. A ‘supermarket,’ defined as a large grocery retailer generating at least US$2 million in sales per year, while also containing a range of distinct food departments (including produce) offering healthy foods (Fan et al, 2018; US Department of Agriculture, 2013).…”

“…One of these, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) at the US Department of Health and Human Services, works with large retailers and communities to secure commitments to build stores in designated ‘food deserts’ (Holzman, 2010). However, scholarly analyses of the HFFI programme have cast doubts on the effectiveness of the programme on increasing vulnerable households’ consumption of healthy foods and reducing diet-related health problems (Allcott et al, 2017; Fan et al, 2018).…”

Thrifty Food Plan Panel Price Index and the Real Value of SNAP Benefits

“…The EPI is a spatial price index that eliminates the heterogeneity and variety biases. Fan et al (2018) use the food group elasticities in 2012 from Handbury and Weinstein (2015) to construct the EPI. We are not able to use the same approach as we are constructing a panel index instead of a spatial index for a specific year.…”