Modeling Household Food Choice Behavior Using Store-Based and Household-Based Scanner Data
Paper Session
Friday, Jan. 6, 2017 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Swissotel Chicago, Montreux 1
- Chair: Mary Muth, RTI International
Store Choice and Consumer Behavior in Food Deserts: An Empirical Application of the Distance Metric Method
Abstract
While food access is an increasingly studied component of research related to diet and health, consumer behavior and store choice have been relatively overlooked in understanding the dietary health-food access relationship. Especially in areas with high poverty rates, where the proportion of low access and low income population persists over time, consumers are faced with shopping at non-traditional stores, which may augment the negative welfare impacts. Using detailed scanner data, namely IRI’s Consumer Network Panel and IRI’s InfoScan, along with Nielsen’s TDLinx store characteristics data, this paper develops a structural model of store choice that frames Pinkse, Slade, and Brett’s (2002) distance metric (DM) method inside a demand system to model what behaviors drive consumers’ store choice decisions, highlighting underserved communities. We frame the DM method within the Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) demand system framework (Lewbel and Pendakur, 2009). While the DM method has been used previously to model brand choice, this paper is the first to use it to investigate store choice. Because our store-choice model is based on demand for store attributes (such as relative prices, product assortment measures, store services, and distance between stores), it reveals consumer preferences for store types and provides insight into policy prescriptions that attempt to improve food access. Despite the importance of this topic, little research exists that documents how the distribution of consumer types and geographic patterns are associated with store choice. The use of the data sources listed above supports a more complete picture of both the food environment and consumer behavior, and it is our hope that our methods and results will generate significant interest and discussion with applications in marketing, health, and food policies related to food access.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 consumption behavior. In this article, we compare food prices in food deserts, defined as low-income, low-access census tracts, and non-food 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 IRI InfoScan, a nationwide store-level sales dataset, 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 have three central findings. First, prices for common foods are not significantly different between food deserts and non-food deserts. Second, after controlling for differential access to food variety, we find that the EPI in food deserts is 3% to 8% higher than similar census tracts with more store access and 3% to 6% higher than low-access census tracts with higher income. Third, the higher EPI in food deserts is driven by the lack of supermarkets nearby. In sum, residents of food deserts do not face substantially higher prices for common goods that are available in both food deserts and non-food deserts; instead, the higher prices in food deserts are driven by the smaller variety of foods available in food deserts. This finding has implications for the mechanisms through which policymakers may wish to enhance access to food in low-income, low-access areas.Is the Focus on Food Deserts Fruitless? Retail Access and Food Purchases Across the Socioeconomic Spectrum
Abstract
Despite an absence of causal evidence showing that limited access to healthy foods is to blame for unhealthful consumption, policies aimed at improving poor diets by improving access are ubiquitous. In this paper, we use Nielsen household-based and store-based scanner data, TDLinx store characteristics data, and government data sources to examine the healthfulness of household food purchases and the retail landscapes facing consumers. Our goal is to measure the role that access plays in explaining why some individuals in the United States eat more nutritious foods than others. We first confirm that households with lower income and education purchase less healthful foods. We then measure the spatial variation in the average nutritional quality of available food products across local markets, revealing that healthy foods are less likely to be available in low-income neighborhoods. Though significant, spatial differences in access are small relative to the spatial differences in store sales and explain only a fraction of the variation that we observe in the nutritional content of household purchases. Systematic socioeconomic disparities in household purchases persist after access is equated: even in the same store, wealthier and more educated households purchase more healthful foods. Consistent with this result, we further find that the nutritional quality of household purchases responds very little to changes in their retail environment, especially among households with low levels of income and education. Together, our results indicate that even if spatial disparities in access are entirely resolved, over two-thirds of the existing socioeconomic disparities in consumption would remain.JEL Classifications
- Q0 - General