Price and Expenditure Elasticities for Vegetables in an Urban Food Desert

Dave Weatherspoon (), Assa S. Dembele, Lorraine J. Weatherspoon, Marcus A. Coleman and James F. Oehmke

No 123392, 2012 AAEA/EAAE Food Environment Symposium from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Food deserts are associated with lower quality diets and higher obesity rates. Vegetable consumption is key to a healthy diet, reduced obesity and improved health outcomes. Existing research provides little guidance for improving such food environments due to lack of adequate consumption data. This paper addresses this by estimating vegetable demand elasticities for a food-desert community in Detroit, relying on data from a natural experiment. Expenditure played a greater role in determining purchasing behavior than prices. Both elasticities were larger than the national average. Consequently, any policy that increases income or reduces prices could have a significant impact.

Keywords: Food; Consumption/Nutrition/Food; Safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28
Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaeafe:123392

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.123392

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