Essays on food assistance program participation and demand for food

Household food demand and choices over food products are constantly evolving. Therefore better understanding of the relationship among household socioeconomic characteristics, expenditures, foods and nutrient choices of consumers and food prices is important to food producers, health professionals, policymakers and educators. This dissertation is a collection of three papers, each analyzing a particular issue related to consumer behavior. The first two papers explore two important issues related to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program that have not been extensively addressed in the past. First, although the WIC program is primarily devised with the intent of improving the nutrition of targeted children and mothers, it is possible that WIC may also change the consumption of foods by non-targeted individuals within the household. Second, although WIC eligibility status is predetermined, participation in the program is voluntary and therefore potentially endogenous. Although the two papers address similar topics, they differ in empirical approach. The first paper uses a two-stage instrumental variables approach and the second paper uses a Bayesian approach in order to handle the endogeneity of WIC program participation. Findings from these two papers indicate that based on the specification of the empirical model the choice of the estimation method can play an important role on the final outcome of the research. The third paper of this dissertation examines consumer demand for grain products. Given the public health interest in increased consumption of whole grains, demand for different types of cereals, both refined and whole grain is estimated. Bayesian methods are employed in the estimation accounting for the censoring of the dependent variables. Results show that demand for all types of cereals is inelastic to changes in prices. The expenditure elasticities do not vary widely in the magnitude. The expenditure elasticity is slightly above unity for the whole grain ready-to-eat cereals suggesting that as the expenditure on cereals increases households will allocate proportionally more on whole-grain ready-to-eat cereals and less on other cereals

Children\u27s Food Security and Participation in the National School Lunch Program

In 2013 nearly 8.6 million U.S. children lived in households in which one or more child was food insecure. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is one of the largest federally funded food and nutrition assistance programs that aims to provide nutritious, well-balanced lunches for school-age children. Given the important role this program plays on food and nutrient intake of school-age children, we examined the relationship between participation in NSLP and children\u27s food security status. After controlling for the endogeneity of the program participation we found that program participation have positive effect on food insecure and marginally food secure children, but the effect was not significant. Having enough time to eat school meals played an important role on student\u27s decision to participate in NSLP. We also found that marginal food security group shared more characteristics with the food insecure group rather than with the high food secure group

Impact of the National School Lunch Program on Children’s Food Security

National School Lunch, Food Insecurity, Ordered Probit, Instrumental Variables, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, I18, I38, P46, Q18, R28,

An Analysis of the Banana Import market in the U.S.

Demand, banana, import, market power, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

A Non-Hypothetical and Incentive Compatible Method for Estimating Consumer Willingness-to-Pay for a Novel Functional Food: The Case of Pomegranates

A preference and valuation mechanism that compared results of an experimental auction and nonhypothetical preference rankings was developed and used to elicit preferences for pomegranate products from a representative sample of shoppers in Texas. Familiarity with pomegranate products increased willingness-to-pay (WTP) for pomegranates, as did tasting and providing additional information on the health benefits of the products. Ready-to-eat and juice products were preferred to whole fruit products. Subjects did not indicate an increased WTP for Texas varieties over California Wonderful pomegranate based on auction bids but indicated a preference for one Texas variety in the nonhypothetical ranking procedure; thus, the auction results and nonhypothetical preference ranking procedures were divergent. Further, there were interaction effects of the information treatments with the product characteristics.willingness-to-pay, pomegranate, experimental auction, ranking, health, novel product, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, D12, Q13,

Children’s Food Security and Participation in the National School Lunch Program

In 2013 nearly 8.6 million U.S. children lived in households in which one or more child was food insecure. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is one of the largest federally funded food and nutrition assistance programs that aims to provide nutritious, well-balanced lunches for school-age children. Given the important role this program plays on food and nutrient intake of school-age children, we examined the relationship between participation in NSLP and children’s food security status. After controlling for the endogeneity of program participation we found that program participation have positive effect on food insecure and marginally food secure children, but the effect was not significant. Having enough time to eat school meals played an important role on students’ decision to participate in NSLP. We also found that marginal food security group shared more characteristics with the food insecure group rather than with the high food secure group

Children’s Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables: Do School Environment and Policies Affect Choice At School and Away from School?

School environment and policies affect children’s healthy eating choices both at and away from school. We estimate their effect on fruit and vegetable intakes and control for the endogenous decision to participate in the National School Lunch Program. School meal participants consume more total fruits and vegetables, with relatively more at school and less away from school compared to nonparticipants. The policies had little effect on participation itself. Policies to restrict high fat milks or desserts for school lunch and selling competitive foods are associated with greater fruit and/or vegetable intake at school; some policies affected consumption of fruits and/or vegetables at home as well. Policies that encourage fruit and vegetable consumption can improve diets both at and away from school

Essays on food assistance program participation and demand for food

Household food demand and choices over food products are constantly evolving. Therefore better understanding of the relationship among household socioeconomic characteristics, expenditures, foods and nutrient choices of consumers and food prices is important to food producers, health professionals, policymakers and educators. This dissertation is a collection of three papers, each analyzing a particular issue related to consumer behavior. The first two papers explore two important issues related to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program that have not been extensively addressed in the past. First, although the WIC program is primarily devised with the intent of improving the nutrition of "targeted" children and mothers, it is possible that WIC may also change the consumption of foods by non-targeted individuals within the household. Second, although WIC eligibility status is predetermined, participation in the program is voluntary and therefore potentially endogenous. Although the two papers address similar topics, they differ in empirical approach. The first paper uses a two-stage instrumental variables approach and the second paper uses a Bayesian approach in order to handle the endogeneity of WIC program participation. Findings from these two papers indicate that based on the specification of the empirical model the choice of the estimation method can play an important role on the final outcome of the research. The third paper of this dissertation examines consumer demand for grain products. Given the public health interest in increased consumption of whole grains, demand for different types of cereals, both refined and whole grain is estimated. Bayesian methods are employed in the estimation accounting for the censoring of the dependent variables. Results show that demand for all types of cereals is inelastic to changes in prices. The expenditure elasticities do not vary widely in the magnitude. The expenditure elasticity is slightly above unity for the whole grain ready-to-eat cereals suggesting that as the expenditure on cereals increases households will allocate proportionally more on whole-grain ready-to-eat cereals and less on other cereals.</p

The Impact of Policy Changes on Milk and Beverage Consumption of Texas WIC Children

Major changes in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food packages that were implemented in 2009 included reductions in the amount of milk and 100% juices, as well as the removal of whole milk from food packages. In analyzing the effect of these changes on the beverage consumption of Texas WIC children ages two to four, we found a significant decrease in the amount of whole milk consumed, and this decrease was partially offset by the increase in the amount of lower-fat milks consumed. Intakes of both desirable and undesirable nutrients from milk were decreased