Essays on the Economics of Food Access and Food Security
Author | : Phillip Maurice Warsaw |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 262 |
Release | : 2017 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1002220039 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (39 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: This project leverages residential markets to develop and estimate econometric models of consumer demand for local food access in Milwaukee, WI. I estimate both a hedonic model and a horizontal residential sorting model to characterize consumer preferences for food access in the form of large, full-service grocery stores, and how they vary across socioeconomic characteristics. To do so, I use fourteen years of publicly available residential transaction and land-use data between 2002 and 2015. The hedonic model estimates marginal prices paid by households for food access, which I define here as the number of grocery stores within quarter-mile rings up to 1 mile away from a residence. The availability of a robust set of spatial controls in conjunction with Census data also allows for the consideration of how those prices vary across space and the socioeconomic makeup of each neighborhood within the city, providing a natural test for inequalities in food access across the city. I find evidence that households in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of African and/or Latino-American households pay a higher premium for grocery stores within .75 -- 1 mile of their home, with some evidence that the same is true for grocery stores within .25 -- .50 miles of a home. These results suggest the existence of food inequality within the city. The horizontal sorting model allows for the estimation of structural consumer preferences, and how those preferences vary across observable household characteristics. Estimation results suggest that households of color, particularly African-American households, have a higher marginal willingness to pay for an additional grocery store within a mile of their home than white households, after controlling for income. These results complement those found by the hedonic model, suggesting that the existing price inequalities are in part due to higher demand for food access in neighborhoods of color. Finally, counterfactual policy analysis suggests significant benefits of policies aimed to increase food access in neighborhoods of color, particularly those of low-income.