Essays on the Economics of Food Availability and Food Deserts
Author | : Lauren Chenarides |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : |
Release | : 2017 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1005122699 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (99 Downloads) |
Download or read book Essays on the Economics of Food Availability and Food Deserts written by Lauren Chenarides and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation investigates food access and underserved areas in the U.S. In essay one, I document how in-store product availability varies nationally across different food retailing landscapes, and place these findings in context with existing food desert literature. In essay two, I adapt a demand model, featuring the Distance Metric method, that explicitly incorporates in-store attributes, store type, and store location to infer household behavior around price sensitivity, store switching, and expenditure sensitivity. In essay three, I conduct an equilibrium analysis of store choice that relates both the demand side, from chapter three, and supply side to store attributes, including price-cost margins and product assortment. Using this framework, I simulate changes in the food retailing landscape, based on a hypothetical policy-informed scenario, to investigate resulting costs and benefits to consumers and food retailers. Understanding the interdependencies between firm behavior, consumer reaction, and geographic variation in consumer demographics provides a foundation to examine the impacts of limited food access and policies that might address the problems associated with limited food access.