IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v61y2016icp163-175.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Food environment in the United States as a complex economic system

Author

Listed:
  • Dharmasena, Senarath
  • Bessler, David A.
  • Capps, Oral

Abstract

The food environment in the United States is complex. Sixteen socio-economic-demographic variables from various public data sources are studied with a machine learning algorithm to ascertain the causality structure associated with the food environment in the United States. High levels of unemployment and poverty are direct causes of high levels of food insecurity, while low income causes high levels of food insecurity via increased levels of poverty. Unemployment is a common cause for both increased levels of food insecurity and poverty. We find that food insecurity and participation in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are related, yet no direct causality is observed. Contrary to past studies which find that SNAP participation decreased the occurrences of poverty, in contemporaneous time, we find that poverty and SNAP participation are related through several back-door paths, via food insecurity, unemployment, race and food taxes. Obesity and SNAP participation are indirectly related via several back-door paths, namely, race income, poverty and food insecurity and unemployment. Also, food insecurity and obesity are related by several back-door paths. Low income, high food taxes, and race (being Black and non-Hispanic) are direct causes of obesity. The complex causality structure in the US food environment reveals that policy variables cannot be treated independently of their rich causal structure. Government agencies responsible for designing policies for food assistance, poverty alleviation, combating food insecurity and obesity need to consider the interrelationships among these variables.

Suggested Citation

  • Dharmasena, Senarath & Bessler, David A. & Capps, Oral, 2016. "Food environment in the United States as a complex economic system," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 163-175.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:61:y:2016:i:c:p:163-175
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.03.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919216300136
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.03.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard A. Dunn, 2010. "The Effect of Fast-Food Availability on Obesity: An Analysis by Gender, Race, and Residential Location," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1149-1164.
    2. repec:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_economic_status_paper is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Borjas, George J., 2004. "Food insecurity and public assistance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(7-8), pages 1421-1443, July.
    4. Craig Gundersen & Victor Oliveira, 2001. "The Food Stamp Program and Food Insufficiency," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(4), pages 875-887.
    5. Gundersen, Craig & Kreider, Brent, 2009. "Bounding the effects of food insecurity on children's health outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 971-983, September.
    6. Dharmasena, Senarath & Bessler, David A. & Todd, Jessica & Capps, Oral, Jr., 2014. "Dynamics of the Food Environment in the United States," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 169797, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Craig Gundersen & Brent Kreider, 2008. "Food Stamps and Food Insecurity: What Can Be Learned in the Presence of Nonclassical Measurement Error?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(2), pages 352-382.
    8. Chad D. Meyerhoefer & Muzhe Yang, 2011. "The Relationship between Food Assistance and Health: A Review of the Literature and Empirical Strategies for Identifying Program Effects," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 33(3), pages 304-344.
    9. Craig Gundersen & Brent Kreider & John Pepper, 2011. "The Economics of Food Insecurity in the United States," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 33(3), pages 281-303.
    10. David A. Bessler & Derya G. Akleman, 1998. "Farm Prices, Retail Prices, and Directed Graphs: Results for Pork and Beef," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1144-1149.
    11. Bhattacharya, Jayanta & Currie, Janet & Haider, Steven, 2004. "Poverty, food insecurity, and nutritional outcomes in children and adults," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 839-862, July.
    12. Helen H. Jensen, 2002. "Food Insecurity and the Food Stamp Program," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1215-1228.
    13. Grebitus, Carola & Lusk, Jayson L. & Nayga, Rodolfo M., 2013. "Effect of distance of transportation on willingness to pay for food," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 67-75.
    14. Granger, C. W. J., 1980. "Testing for causality : A personal viewpoint," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 329-352, May.
    15. Dubois, Lise & Farmer, Anna & Girard, Manon & Porcherie, Marion, 2006. "Family food insufficiency is related to overweight among preschoolers'," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1503-1516, September.
    16. Judi Bartfeld & Rachel Dunifon, 2006. "State-level predictors of food insecurity among households with children," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(4), pages 921-942.
    17. Gundersen, Craig & Kreider, Brent & Pepper, John, 2012. "The impact of the National School Lunch Program on child health: A nonparametric bounds analysis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 166(1), pages 79-91.
    18. Cawley, John & Meyerhoefer, Chad, 2012. "The medical care costs of obesity: An instrumental variables approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 219-230.
    19. Gundersen, Craig & Jolliffe, Dean & Tiehen, Laura, 2009. "The challenge of program evaluation: When increasing program participation decreases the relative well-being of participants," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 367-376, August.
    20. Dharmasena, Senarath & Ishdorj, Ariun & Capps, Oral, Jr. & Bessler, David A., 2014. "Dynamics of Macroeconomic Shocks on Food Assistance Programs in the United States," 2014 Annual Meeting, February 1-4, 2014, Dallas, Texas 162368, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    21. Craig Gundersen, 2008. "Measuring the extent, depth, and severity of food insecurity: an application to American Indians in the USA," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 21(1), pages 191-215, January.
    22. repec:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_economic_status_paper.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Andrew Rettenmaier & Zijun Wang, 2013. "What determines health: a causal analysis using county level data," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 14(5), pages 821-834, October.
    24. Nord, Mark & Golla, Anne Marie, 2009. "Does SNAP Decrease Food Insecurity? Untangling the Self-Selection Effect," Economic Research Report 55955, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    25. Parke Wilde & Mark Nord, 2005. "The Effect of Food Stamps on Food Security: A Panel Data Approach ," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 27(3), pages 425-432.
    26. Laura Leete & Neil Bania, 2010. "The effect of income shocks on food insufficiency," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 505-526, December.
    27. Steven T. Yen & Margaret Andrews & Zhuo Chen & David B. Eastwood, 2008. "Food Stamp Program Participation and Food Insecurity: An Instrumental Variables Approach," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(1), pages 117-132.
    28. Capps, Oral, 2009. "Issues Indigenous to Consumer Economics and Food Marketing: Opportunities for Research Contributions," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(02), pages 317-322, August.
    29. Christian Broda & Ephraim Leibtag & David E. Weinstein, 2009. "The Role of Prices in Measuring the Poor's Living Standards," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 77-97, Spring.
    30. Tiehen, Laura & Jolliffe, Dean & Gundersen, Craig, 2012. "Alleviating Poverty in the United States: The Critical Role of SNAP Benefits," Economic Research Report 262233, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    31. Anne Case & Darren Lubotsky & Christina Paxson, 2002. "Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1308-1334, December.
    32. Douglas J. Besharov & Marianne Bitler & Steven J. Haider, 2011. "An economic view of food deserts in the united states," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 153-176, December.
    33. Unknown, 2001. "Second Food Security Measurement And Research Conference, Volume Ii: Papers," Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Reports 33883, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    34. Ribar, David C. & Hamrick, Karen S., 2003. "Dynamics Of Poverty And Food Sufficiency," Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Reports 33851, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    35. Gundersen, Craig & Weinreb, Linda & Wehler, Cheryl & Hosmer, David, 2003. "Homelessness and food insecurity," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 250-272, September.
    36. Marianne Bitler & Craig Gundersen & Grace S. Marquis, 2005. "Are WIC Nonrecipients at Less Nutritional Risk Than Recipients? An Application of the Food Security Measure ," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 27(3), pages 433-438.
    37. Ver Ploeg, Michele & Ralston, Katherine L., 2008. "Food Stamps and Obesity: What Do We Know?," Economic Information Bulletin 58640, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Antelo, Manel & Magdalena, Pilar & Reboredo, Juan C., 2017. "Economic crisis and the unemployment effect on household food expenditure: The case of Spain," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 11-24.
    2. Seung Jin Cho & Brent Kreider & John V. Winters, 2023. "Resource booms, state economic conditions, and child food security," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(3), pages 1734-1752, September.
    3. Nayga, Jr., Rodolfo M. & Valizadeh, Pourya & Melo, Grace, 2022. "SNAP and well-being of low-income households with children before and during the pandemic," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322184, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Clare Y. Cho & Jill K. Clark, 2020. "Disparities in Access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Retailers Over Time and Space," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(1), pages 99-118, February.
    5. Galli, Francesca & Prosperi, Paolo & Favilli, Elena & D'Amico, Simona & Bartolini, Fabio & Brunori, Gianluca, 2020. "How can policy processes remove barriers to sustainable food systems in Europe? Contributing to a policy framework for agri-food transitions," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    6. Hawkins, Hannah & Dharmasena, Senarath, . "Price Discovery and Integration in U.S. Peanut Markets," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 51(1).
    7. Nathalie Mathieu‐Bolh, 2022. "The elusive link between income and obesity," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 935-968, September.
    8. Yongtong Shao & Tao Xiong & Minghao Li & Dermot Hayes & Wendong Zhang & Wei Xie, 2021. "China's Missing Pigs: Correcting China's Hog Inventory Data Using a Machine Learning Approach," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 1082-1098, May.
    9. Seung Jin Cho, 2022. "The effect of aging out of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program on food insecurity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 664-685, April.
    10. Senia, Mark C. & Dharmasena, Senarath & Todd, Jessica E., 2018. "A Complex Model of Consumer Food Acquisitions: Applying Machine Learning and Directed Acyclic Graphs to the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS)," 2018 Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2018, Jacksonville, Florida 266536, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wilson, Norbert L. W. & Zheng, Yuqing & Burney, Shaheer & Kaiser, Harry M., 2016. "Do Grocery Food Sales Taxes Cause Food Insecurity?," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235324, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Ranney, Christine K. & Gomez, Miguel I., 2010. "Food Stamps, Food Insufficiency and Health of the Elderly," Working Papers 126968, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    3. Kelly Noonan & Hope Corman & Nancy E. Reichman, 2014. "Effects of Maternal Depression on Family Food Insecurity," NBER Working Papers 20113, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Deokrye Baek, 2013. "The Effect of Public Transportation Accessibility on Food Insecurity," Departmental Working Papers 2013-02, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    5. Swann, Christopher A., 2017. "Household history, SNAP participation, and food insecurity," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-9.
    6. Jun Zhang & Yanghao Wang & Steven T. Yen, 2021. "Does Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Reduce Food Insecurity among Households with Children? Evidence from the Current Population Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Daniel Millimet & Manan Roy, 2015. "Partial identification of the long-run causal effect of food security on child health," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 83-141, February.
    8. Zhang, Jun & Yen, Steven T., 2017. "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and food insecurity among families with children," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 52-64.
    9. Li, Yiran & Mills, Bradford F. & Mykerezi, Elton, 2012. "Food Stamp Program and Food Insecurity Dynamics: Using Intra-Annual Measurements," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124681, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Gundersen, Craig & Jolliffe, Dean & Tiehen, Laura, 2009. "The challenge of program evaluation: When increasing program participation decreases the relative well-being of participants," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 367-376, August.
    11. Yunhee Chang & Swarn Chatterjee & Jinhee Kim, 2014. "Household Finance and Food Insecurity," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 499-515, December.
    12. repec:mpr:mprres:8084 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Otto Lenhart, 2021. "The effects of paid family leave on food insecurity—evidence from California," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 615-639, September.
    14. Robert B. Nielsen & Martin C. Seay & Melissa J. Wilmarth, 2018. "The Receipt of Government Food Assistance: Differences Between Metro and Non-Metro Households," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 117-131, March.
    15. James Mabli, "undated". "SNAP Participation and Urban and Rural Food Security," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 99ba5f92f8434d3084c34a7d9, Mathematica Policy Research.
    16. Craig Gundersen & Brent Kreider, 2008. "Food Stamps and Food Insecurity: What Can Be Learned in the Presence of Nonclassical Measurement Error?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(2), pages 352-382.
    17. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Nord, Mark, 2013. "Food Insecurity Among Households With Working-Age Adults With Disabilities," Economic Research Report 142955, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    18. Helen H. Jensen & Brent Kreider & Oleksandr Zhylyevskyy, 2019. "Investigating Treatment Effects of Participating Jointly in SNAP and WIC when the Treatment Is Validated Only for SNAP," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 124-155, July.
    19. Gundersen, Craig & Kreider, Brent, 2009. "Bounding the effects of food insecurity on children's health outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 971-983, September.
    20. Patricia M. Anderson & Kristin F. Butcher & Hilary W. Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2016. "Beyond Income: What Else Predicts Very Low Food Security Among Children?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(4), pages 1078-1105, April.
    21. Gao, Xiang & Ishdorj, Ariun & Higgins, Lindsey M., 2012. "Impact of the National School Lunch Program on Children’s Food Security," 2012 Annual Meeting, February 4-7, 2012, Birmingham, Alabama 119778, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Food environment; Obesity; Poverty; Food insecurity; Food assistance; Directed acyclic graphs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C40 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - General
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:61:y:2016:i:c:p:163-175. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.