Are Lower Income Households Willing and Able To Budget for Fruits and Vegetables?

Households have a number of needs and wants that all compete for scarce resources. Given this situation, are low-income households, in particular, generally willing and able to budget for healthful foods like fruits and vegetables, or are other goods and services, including other foods, more of a priority? For six out of seven selected types of food, we find that households with an income below 130 percent of the poverty line spend less money than higher income households. However, we also find that these households, when given a small increase in income, will allocate more money to only two out of the seven products, beef and frozen prepared foods. These foods may be priorities for reasons of taste and convenience. For additional money to be allocated to fruits and vegetables, a household’s income needs to be slightly greater than 130 percent of the poverty line.food expenditures, fruits, vegetables, hierarchical demand, low-income households, food spending, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

How Low-Income Households Allocate Their Food Budget Relative to the Cost of the Thrifty Food Plan

By allocating their food budgets in accordance with USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which serves as a national standard for a low-cost nutritious diet, low-income U.S. households can meet recommended dietary guidelines. This study sought to determine whether selected types of low-income households allocate their food budgets in accordance with the TFP. In addition to expenditures for total food and food-at-home, the study looked at four large food-at-home categories: meats, cereals and bakery goods, fruits and vegetables, and dairy products. The analysis found that low-income households as a whole spent about 86 percent of the TFP costs for food at home. These households spent slightly over the TFP amount (102 percent) on cereals and bakery goods, but only 53 percent of the TFP costs on fruits and vegetables. Simulations for specific types of low-income households indicated that expenditures by female-headed households with children and married couples with children were least likely to equal the TFP expenditures.Thrifty Food Plan, low-income households, food consumption, food assistance programs, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Household versus Community Effects: Who Really Pays More for Food?

One strand of literature shows a household's cost of food to vary with the household's own income and demographic characteristics. For example, low-income households may tend to purchase less costly bundles of food. However, a separate strand of literature also shows food prices to vary spatially with the characteristics of communities, such as real estate prices. In this study, a model is developed that unites these two strands. Simulations further illustrate the effect that a community's characteristics can have on a household's food budget, if the household lives in each of ten cities in the United States.Consumer/Household Economics,

Food Spending in American Households, 2003-04

Average yearly expenditures on food in U.S. urban households increased between 2003 and 2004. Over the period, annual per capita spending on food rose from $2,035 to$2,207. The 2004 average comprises $1,347 spent on food consumed at home and$860 spent on food consumed away from home. These amounts reflect a year-to-year increase of 7.9 percent in food-at-home expenditures and 9.3 percent in food-away-from-home expenditures. Wealthier urban households tended to spend more than other urban households for both food at home and food away from home, and they spent a larger share of their food budget than other households on food consumed away from home. The share of the food budget spent on food consumed away from home varied from 30 percent for the poorest group to 44 percent for the wealthiest.Food expenditures, BLS Consumer Expenditure Diary Survey, socioeconomic characteristics Acknowledgments, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis,

Consumer Acceptance of Biotechnology: Lessons From the rbST Experience

The controversial introduction of rbST, a laboratory version of bST, a growth hormone that stimulates milk production in cows, may provide hopeful lessons for other foods produced by biotechnology. Milk sales remained steady after rbST became available to dairy farmers, even though a multitude of public opinion surveys documented widespread concern about food safety and biotechnology, and some analysts predicted a drop in milk consumption of up to 20 percent. The undiminished consumer demand for milk may indicate that consumers will also accept other animal food products from biotechnology. The rbST experience suggests that, while scientific evidence of food safety will not prevent controversy over biotech foods, controversy will not necessarily inhibit consumer demand for the food.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

ESTIMATING THE VARIANCE OF FOOD PRICE INFLATION

Stochastic index theory views each commodity price change as an independent observation on the rate of inflation that can be estimated by averaging over all prices. Our methodology estimates both the overall rate of inflation and relative price changes along with standard errors.Food prices, Index numbers, Inflation, Demand and Price Analysis,

DECOMPOSING RED MEAT, POULTRY, AND FISH EXPENDITURES INTO AGE, TIME, AND COHORT EFFECTS

This paper decomposes red meat, poultry, and fish consumption into cohort, age, and time effects. Younger cohorts spend less in real terms than older cohorts. These findings suggest strong implications for future consumption and nutrient intakes in the U.S.Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries,

HOUSEHOLD FOOD SPENDING BY SELECTED DEMOGRAPHICS IN THE 1990s

Average per-person total food expenditures, adjusted for inflation, declined about 7 percent between 1990 and 1998, from $2,189 to$2,037. This decline resulted primarily from the average at-home food expenditures per person declining by about 6 percent and the away-from-home food expenditures declining by about 8 percent. Price-adjusted food spending reflects changes in the real price of food as well as any quantity adjustments made by consumers. However, the national average masks the fact that some population subgroups had significantly higher or lower food expenditures than average. For example, while total food spending declined for all demographic groups except female-headed and Black households, these two demographic groups still had the lowest per capita spending. In contrast to this, per-person total food expenditures were greatest for households in the highest income quintile, for one-person households, and for households with heads between 55 and 64 years of age.Food expenditures, food spending, demographics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

FOOD-CONSUMPTION PATTERNS AMONG ELDERLY AGE GROUPS

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS' EXPENDITURES ON FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

This report analyzes fruit and vegetable expenditures by low-income households and higher income households, and compares the sensitivity of both groups' purchases to changes in income. On average, low-income households spent $3.59 per capita per week on fruits and vegetables in 2000 while higher income households spent$5.02-a statistically significant difference. In addition, a statistical demand model indicates that marginal increases in income received by low-income households are not spent on additional fruits and vegetables. In contrast, increases in income received by higher income households do increase their fruit and vegetable expenditures. One interpretation of this finding is that low-income households will allocate an additional dollar of income to other food or nonfood items deemed more essential to the household such as meats, clothing, or housing.Low-income, food expenditures, fruits and vegetables, stochastic dominance, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,