The Effect of Food Store Access and Income on Household Purchases of Fruits and Vegetables: A Mixed Effects Analysis

Abstract

This paper combines national‐level retail food availability information with data on actual purchases to determine the effect that availability of different types of food stores and income have on fruit and vegetable purchases. The results of our mixed effects analysis suggest that the densities of supermarkets and other retail outlets in metropolitan statistical areas do not have significant effects on household fruit and vegetable purchases. Income, however, has a positive significant effect on fruit and vegetable purchases. Results also indicate that while neither food access nor income account for the variability in fruit and vegetable purchases, the interaction of these terms has a small but significant impact indicating that policy actions designed to address access and affordability issues in isolation are not likely to succeed.

Bans vs. Fees: Disposable Carryout Bag Policies and Bag Usage

“…courteous service, the variety of merchandise, fast checkout, and quality of meat and produce. Store patronage is also influenced by household characteristics such as demographics and past purchase history (Staus 2009), and by characteristics of the entire local food market such as the physical availability of different types of retail stores (Feather 2003;Kyureghian, Nayga, and Bhattacharya 2013), the degree of competition between food stores (Hausman and Leibtag 2007), and prices offered by various outlet types (Broda, Leibtag, and Weinstein 2009).…”

“…Staus (2009) ;, and Kyureghian, Nayga, and Bhattacharya (2013) examine store choice among FAH stores using multinomial logit models and household home-scan data-data from a panel of households supplied with handheld scanners to scan the universal product codes of all purchases made for at-home consumption.…”

Do SNAP Recipients Get the Best Prices?

“…Previous literature finds a consistent positive relationship between higher household income and prices paid for food items. One explanation for this relationship is that better-quality food is more affordable at higher income levels (Aguiar and Hurst, 2007;Kyureghian, Nayga, and Bhattacharya, 2013). Consistent with this hypothesis, some health literature finds that lower-income households purchase comparatively more food items with greater energy density and higher fat content, but these are typically less expensive (Drewnowski and Specter, 2004;Morland, Wing, and Roux, 2002).…”

Retailer Proximity and Nutrition Program Redemptions: Evidence From the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer For Children Program

“…Consistent with this interpretation, both (a) moreformal causal analyses of the relation of proximity to retailers and nutritional intake and (b) more-detailed analyses of actual food shopping behavior suggest that the correlation of food deserts with poorer nutritional outcomes is not causal. That is, residing in a food desert does not seem to cause worse nutritional outcomes, and placing supermarkets in food deserts is unlikely to substantially improve nutrition (Kyureghian, Nayga, and Bhattacharya 2012;Cummins, Flint, and Matthews 2014;Alcott, Diamond, and Dube 2015;Dubowitz et al 2015;Handbury, Rahkosky, and Schnell 2016; see also the review of the more recent literature in ver Ploeg and Wilde, forthcoming).…”