Is the Focus on Food Deserts Fruitless? Retail Access and Food Purchases Across the Socioeconomic Spectrum

Abstract

Using novel data describing the healthfulness of household food purchases and the retail landscapes consumers face, we measure the role of access in explaining why wealthier and more educated households purchase healthier foods. We find that spatial differences in access, though significant, are small relative to spatial differences in the nutritional content of sales. Socioeconomic disparities in nutritional consumption exist even among households with equivalent access, and the healthfulness of household consumption responds minimally to improvements in local retail environments. Our results indicate that access-improving policies alone will eliminate less than one third of existing socioeconomic disparities in nutritional consumption.

Documenting the Link Between Poor Food Access and Less Healthy Product Assortment Across the U.S.

“…However, rather than rely on small-scale studies that may only present part of the picture, some research encourages policymakers to look at larger-scale studies, such as the one we present in this paper, as these studies may provide context around targeted policy analysis (Cummins and Macintyre 2002). Finally, some recent economic studies, including Currie et al (2010), Anderson and Matsa (2011), Courtemanche and Carden (2011), Volpe et al (2013), Caillavet et al (2015), Handbury, et al (2015), Fan et al (forthcoming), and Allcott et al (2017), provide good examples of large-scale studies that address food access and policy.…”

Connecting culturally and spiritually to healthy eating: A community assessment with Native Hawaiians

“…The lack of healthy food options in communities with high levels of health disparities has been widely reported in the literature, as food deserts (Slocum & Saldanha, 2013; Walker, Keane, & Burke, 2010). Handbury, Rahkovsky, and Schnell (2016) suggest, “access-improving policies alone will eliminate less than one third of existing socioeconomic disparities in nutritional consumption” (para. 1).…”

The Contribution of the School Environment to the Overall Food Environment Experienced by Children

“…Despite the important role of schools in the food environment faced by children, most research examining access to healthy food has focused on the retail sector (Larson, Story, and Nelson 2009;Allcott, Diamond, and Dube 2017;Handbury, Rahkovsky, and Schnell 2017). Some studies focus on supermarkets or grocery stores (Aggarwal et al 2014), others include a broader set of retail outlets (Powell et al 2007;Kowaleski-Jones et al 2009), and still others include restaurants ( Guthrie, Lin, and Frazao 2002;Binkley 2006).…”