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Low-Income Households’ Expenditures on Fruits and Vegetables
Noel Blisard, Hayden Stewart, and Dean Jolliffe
Agricultural Economic Report No. (AER-833), May 2004
Both public and private organizations have noted that Americans
generally eat less fruits and vegetables than is recommended
in the Federal Food Guide Pyramid. For example, the Produce
for Better Health Foundation found that only 38 percent of Americans
consumed the recommended number of servings of vegetables, while
only 23 percent consumed the recommended number of servings
of fruit. We find that low-income households consume even less
fruits and vegetables than higher income households.
What is the Issue?
Some have suggested that low-income households consume so little
fruits and vegetables because they allocate their limited income
to other items that the household deems more desirable, such
as other foods, clothing, or housing. Indeed, compared with
higher income households, low-income households spent, on average,
about $1.43 less per person per week on fruits and vegetables
in 2000. Suggested solutions have included subsidizing fruit
and vegetable growers, providing free or low-cost fruits and
vegetables in schools, or creating a food stamp that can be
spent only on fruits and vegetables.
This report by the Economic Research Service, Low-Income Households’
Expenditures on Fruits and Vegetables, examines: whether low-income
households spent significantly less on fruits and vegetables
than higher income households; and whether small increases in
income translated into additional fruit and vegetable expenditures
by low-income households.
How Was the Study Conducted?
We defined low-income households as those with income no greater
than 130 percent of the poverty line, adjusted for household
size. That threshold is the cutoff for eligibility for food
stamps. All other households were higher income households.
In the first part of our study, we performed a statistical
test on per capita fruit and vegetable expenditures to ascertain
if there was a difference in expenditures between the two types
of household. This is a stronger test than a comparison of average
expenditures, since it ascertains if the expenditure distribution
of higher income households is always greater than that of lower
income households.
In the second part of our study, we used the same data, but
estimated a traditional demand model for fruits and vegetables
to ascertain if small changes in income induced a statistically
significant increase in fruit and vegetable expenditures. In
addition to income, we estimated the effects of other variables
on fruit and vegetable expenditures. Those variables included
region, season, household size, age composition, race, and educational
attainment. We also refined the demand model to account for
the impact of food stamps on fruit and vegetable expenditures.
What Did the Study Find?
We found that low-income households spent significantly less
on fruits and vegetables than higher income households. In any
given week, approximately 19 percent of all low-income households
bought no fruits and vegetables, compared with only about 10
percent of higher income households with no expenditures (chart).
This gap continued to hold at higher levels of expenditure,
such as $4, and was found to be statistically significant over
the entire expenditures distribution. Moreover, this result
also held when we looked at just fresh fruits and vegetables,
as well as just processed fruits and vegetables.
In addition, we found that small changes in income had no effect
on fruit and vegetable expenditures by low-income households.
For higher income households, however, small changes in income
did translate to increased expenditures for fruits and vegetables;
the increased expenditures, while small, were statistically
significant. When we isolated the effect of food stamps, we
again found no evidence of increased expenditures for fruits
and vegetables. Interestingly, the largest positive influence
on fruit and vegetable expenditures was a college-educated head
of household, regardless of income level. In fact, college-educated
households had the highest level of per capita expenditures
for fruits and vegetables.
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