Household size and the cost of nutritionally equivalent diets

K.J. Morgan, S.R. Johnson and J. Burt

American Journal of Public Health, 1983, vol. 73, issue 5, 530-537

Abstract: Economy of scale factors were developed in 1975 and have since been utilized as household size adjustment factors in estimating household costs of US Department of Agriculture (USFA) food plans. As such, these adjustment factors have a direct impact on the Food Stamp Program coupon allotments. In the present study, the stability of these factors over time was assessed, and the impact of diet quality measures in determining the adjustment factors was investigated. The reported household scale factors, estimated using regression analyses and the National Food Consumption Survey, Survey of Food Consumption in Low-Income Households, 1977-78, varied somewhat from former estimates and were found to be highly dependent on the diet quality measures incorporated in the analysis. Incorporation of several diet quality variables as well as partition specific means are recommended for determining household size adjustment factors to be used in estimating household costs of USDA food plans.

Date: 1983
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1983:73:5:530-537_6

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().