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Food Deserts: Myth or Reality?

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  • Chen Zhen

    (Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA)

Abstract

In 2010, the White House announced the goal of eradicating food deserts—low-income neighborhoods without nearby supermarkets—in seven years. The efficacy of this initiative is premised on the presumption, mostly untested in 2010, that food deserts significantly contribute to health disparities in low-resourced communities. We synthesize the post-2010 line of research that seeks to establish causality in the relationship between food access and nutrition/health. All things considered, there is so far little evidence that food deserts have a causal effect of meaningful magnitude on health and nutrition disparities. The causes of diet quality disparity lie more on the side of food demand than on supply. Therefore, from the public health perspective, policies that lower the relative price of healthy food or change the "deep parameters" of preferences in favor of healthy food would be more appealing than eliminating food deserts.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen Zhen, 2021. "Food Deserts: Myth or Reality?," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 109-129, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:reseco:v:13:y:2021:p:109-129
    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-resource-101620-080307
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    Cited by:

    1. Hughner, Renee Shaw & Dumitrescu, Claudia & Chenarides, Lauren & Wharton, Christopher & Lacagnina, Gina, 2021. "Integrating Experiential Learning into a Food Systems Framework: An Application to Promote Food Deserts and Food Access Concepts Among College Students," Applied Economics Teaching Resources (AETR), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 3(4), September.
    2. Joel Cuffey & Timothy K. M. Beatty, 2022. "Effects of competing food desert policies on store format choice among SNAP participants," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1485-1511, August.
    3. Suttles, Shellye A. & Silva, Andrea, 2023. "Understanding Variation in State Policy and Politics of U.S. Food Environments," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335818, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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