Venue: The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, 1 Towerview Drive, Durham, NC 27708-0120
Presentation
What Do People In Different Income Groups Buy When They Do Not Buy Fruits And Vegetables?
Extant research indicates that a diet high in fruits and vegetables is beneficial to weight management and associated with decreased risk for numerous chronic diseases. Hence, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) strongly recommends at least 2 daily servings of fruit and 3 daily servings of vegetables for the average person. However, a recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in March, 2007 stated that less than one-third of the population was meeting this goal. The report called for a sustained and effective public health response, including 'identification of barriers to eating more fruits and vegetables.'
While the high price of fruits and vegetables relative to that of less-healthy foods may play a role in consumer choices, it should be noted that food expenditure as a share of disposable income in the U.S. is steadily declining over time. This raises the question -- what do households spend money on when they economize on purchase of fruits and vegetables (F&V). We currently have funding for a pilot study (to be completed by summer, 2008) which will use Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) data for 2002 to help address this question. This will pave the way for a more comprehensive study with multiple waves of the CEX.
The CEX is a national probability sample. Participating households complete two consecutive weekly detailed purchase diaries of all expenditures, as well as a household characteristics questionnaire. The timing of the weekly diaries is distributed quite evenly over the calendar year. In the 2002 CEX, 15,680 weekly diaries are reported by more than 7,800 households. The expenditure diary asks household to report daily expenditures over the week on about 100 individual food items, allowing us to identify expenditures on F&V.
We will divide households in the dataset into four groups based on per-capita-income quartiles, and investigate the following questions:
How much variation is there in expenditure on F&V within each income quartile? What socioeconomic and demographic characteristics other than income are associated with such expenditure, and do these associations differ across the quartiles?
Our question of main interest - within each income quartile, how do expenditures on other items relate to expenditure on F&V? Specifically, what are the items on which more money is spent for every dollar less spent on F&V? Tentatively, our list of 'other items' will include other food purchases, alcohol, tobacco, fast food/restaurant meals, mortgage and rent, utilities, insurance, vehicle and transportation related costs, health and medical expenditures, home improvements, entertainment, child-care, apparel, home furnishing & appliances, other household products, alimony/child support, loan-repayment, and investments/savings.
We do not anticipate establishing any direction of causality between spending on F&V and spending on other items. Our primary aim is to provide extensive information on the household characteristics and budget allocations of those who expend less money on F&V than their peers within the same income quartile, thus providing a knowledge base that will facilitate future research on barriers to purchase of F&V.