Food Insecurity Research in the United States: Where We Have Been and Where We Need to Go

Abstract

Food insecurity is now recognized as a major health crisis in the United States. This is due to the size of the problem—more than 42 million persons were food insecure in 2015—as well as the multiple negative health outcomes and higher health care costs attributable to food insecurity. An extensive body of literature from multiple fields has examined the causes and consequences of food insecurity and the efficacy of food assistance programs—especially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. We review this literature and provide suggestions for future research directions. We suggest examining the distribution of food insecurity within households, the impact of the food distribution system on food insecurity, the coping mechanisms of low‐income food secure families, food insecurity among American Indians, the effects of charitable food assistance, the causal relationship between food insecurity and health outcomes, the declining age gradient in food insecurity among Seniors, the effects of labor force participation and the Great Recession on food insecurity, and the long‐term consequences of food insecurity. In addition, the impact of two recent policy recommendations on food insecurity – the minimum wage and the Affordable Care – Act should be considered.

I Will Give You My Vote but Not My Money: Preferences for Public versus Private Action in Addressing Social Issues

“…Those who are concerned about animal welfare in conventional egg production can take private action by purchasing cage-free eggs, or they can encourage public action by voting for bans on the use of cages in egg production. Private action to mitigate food insecurity includes donating to food banks, while its public counterpart is government programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Gundersen and Ziliak 2018).…”

What to Eat When Having a Millennial over for Dinner

“…Extensions of this research include examining low-income millennials. In their recent article, Gundersen and Ziliak (2018) examine food insecurity issues, pointing out that in 2016, 12.9% of all persons in the United States lived in food-insecure households. Other extensions of this research would be to use more detailed food categories, for example, various cuts of meat products, and further breaking down the "other" category.…”

Food Assistance Programmes and Food Insecurity in the United States

“…the Mississippi Delta and Appalachia. For information on the variation in other characteristics beyond geography, see Gundersen and Ziliak ().…”