IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v83y2019icp125-138.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Healthy food diversity and supermarket interventions: Evidence from the Seacroft Intervention Study

Author

Listed:
  • Freire, Tiago
  • Rudkin, Simon

Abstract

Supermarket interventions have been a commonly used treatment for problems of fresh fruit accessibility in areas of previously limited availability, their wide ranges of healthy products and lower-prices making them seemingly perfect for promoting better diets. Empirical studies likewise fall in favour. However, this diversity also serves to give consumers opportunity to entrench bad habits and simply purchase more of the unhealthy foods they enjoy. In this paper we develop a new health index based upon UK government guidelines and look to the Seacroft Intervention Study for empirical evidence of supermarket impact thereupon. Using fixed effects unconditional quantile regression to provide robustness to our parameter estimates against covariate specification, we reinforce the message that supermarkets are not a panacea for dietary improvement. Whilst diversity increases post-intervention it is unlikely to be healthful, entrenching poor dietary habits rather than delivering improvement as intended. Careful consideration of planning policy, health education and sector regulation is needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Freire, Tiago & Rudkin, Simon, 2019. "Healthy food diversity and supermarket interventions: Evidence from the Seacroft Intervention Study," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 125-138.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:83:y:2019:i:c:p:125-138
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2018.12.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919217306267
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    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. Elizabeth Howlett & Cassandra Davis & Scot Burton, 2016. "From Food Desert to Food Oasis: The Potential Influence of Food Retailers on Childhood Obesity Rates," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 215-224, December.
    2. Bonanno, Alessandro & Bimbo, Francesco & Cleary, Rebecca & Castellari, Elena, 2018. "Food labels and adult BMI in Italy – An unconditional quantile regression approach," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 199-211.
    3. Paul B. Ellickson, 2013. "Supermarkets As A Natural Oligopoly," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 1142-1154, April.
    4. Dave Weatherspoon & James Oehmke & Assa Dembélé & Marcus Coleman & Thasanee Satimanon & Lorraine Weatherspoon, 2013. "Price and Expenditure Elasticities for Fresh Fruits in an Urban Food Desert," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(1), pages 88-106, January.
    5. Keele, Luke & Kelly, Nathan J., 2006. "Dynamic Models for Dynamic Theories: The Ins and Outs of Lagged Dependent Variables," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 186-205, April.
    6. Betsy Donald, 2013. "Food retail and access after the crash: rethinking the food desert problem," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 231-237, March.
    7. Rudkin, Simon, 2014. "Supermarkets versus local shopping: Welfare implications of retail provision mode," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 396-398.
    8. Bijan J. Borah & Anirban Basu, 2013. "Highlighting Differences Between Conditional And Unconditional Quantile Regression Approaches Through An Application To Assess Medication Adherence," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(9), pages 1052-1070, September.
    9. Aggarwal, A. & Cook, A.J. & Jiao, J. & Seguin, R.A. & Moudon, A.V. & Hurvitz, P.M. & Drewnowski, A., 2014. "Access to supermarkets and fruit and vegetable consumption," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(5), pages 917-923.
    10. Mahadevan, Renuka & Suardi, Sandy, 2013. "Is there a role for caste and religion in food security policy? A look at rural India," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 58-69.
    11. Nicolai T. Borgen, 2016. "Fixed effects in unconditional quantile regression," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 16(2), pages 403-415, June.
    12. Neil Wrigley & Daniel Warm & Barrie Margetts, 2003. "Deprivation, Diet, and Food-Retail Access: Findings from the Leeds ‘Food Deserts' Study," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(1), pages 151-188, January.
    13. Sergio Firpo & Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 2009. "Unconditional Quantile Regressions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 953-973, May.
    14. Berry, Charles H, 1971. "Corporate Growth and Diversification," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(2), pages 371-384, October.
    15. Richard Volpe & Abigail Okrent & Ephraim Leibtag, 2013. "The Effect of Supercenter-format Stores on the Healthfulness of Consumers' Grocery Purchases," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(3), pages 568-589.
    16. A. Colin Cameron & Douglas L. Miller, 2015. "A Practitioner’s Guide to Cluster-Robust Inference," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 317-372.
    17. Dobson, Paul W. & Waterson, Michael, 2008. "Chain-Store Competition: Customized vs. Uniform Pricing," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 840, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    18. Santeramo, Fabio Gaetano, 2014. "On the composite indicators for food security: Decisions matter!," MPRA Paper 58955, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Stewart-Knox, B.J. & Markovina, J. & Rankin, A. & Bunting, B.P. & Kuznesof, S. & Fischer, A.R.H. & van der Lans, I.A. & Poínhos, R. & de Almeida, M.D.V. & Panzone, L. & Gibney, M. & Frewer, L.J., 2016. "Making personalised nutrition the easy choice: Creating policies to break down the barriers and reap the benefits," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 134-144.
    20. Liu, Jing & Shively, Gerald E. & Binkley, James K., 2014. "Access to variety contributes to dietary diversity in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P1), pages 323-331.
    21. Thiele, S. & Weiss, C., 2003. "Consumer demand for food diversity: evidence for Germany," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 99-115, April.
    22. Kevin Morgan, 2015. "Nourishing the city: The rise of the urban food question in the Global North," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(8), pages 1379-1394, June.
    23. Neil Wrigley & Cliff Guy & Michelle Lowe, 2002. "Urban Regeneration, Social Inclusion and Large Store Development: The Seacroft Development in Context," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(11), pages 2101-2114, October.
    24. Len Gill & Simon Rudkin, 2014. "Deconstructing Supermarket Intervention Effects on Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Areas of Limited Retail Access: Evidence from the Seacroft Study," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(3), pages 649-665, March.
    25. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
    26. 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.
    27. Dimitri, Carolyn & Oberholtzer, Lydia & Zive, Michelle & Sandolo, Cristina, 2015. "Enhancing food security of low-income consumers: An investigation of financial incentives for use at farmers markets," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 64-70.
    28. Capacci, Sara & Mazzocchi, Mario, 2011. "Five-a-day, a price to pay: An evaluation of the UK program impact accounting for market forces," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 87-98, January.
    29. Neil Wrigley & Daniel Warm & Barrie Margetts & Amanda Whelan, 2002. "Assessing the Impact of Improved Retail Access on Diet in a 'Food Desert': A Preliminary Report," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(11), pages 2061-2082, October.
    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. Makaiko G. Khonje & Matin Qaim, 2019. "Modernization of African Food Retailing and (Un)healthy Food Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 11(16), pages 1-18, August.

    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. Rudkin, Simon, 2015. "Supermarket Interventions and Diet in areas of Limited Retail Access: Policy Suggestions from the Seacroft Intervention Study," MPRA Paper 62434, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Andrej Cupák & Ján Pokrivčák & Marian Rizov, 2016. "Diverzifikácia spotreby potravín na Slovensku [Diversity of Food Consumption in Slovakia]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2016(5), pages 608-626.
    3. Marian Rizov & Andrej Cupak & Jan Pokrivcak, 2015. "Food security and household consumption patterns in Slovakia," LICOS Discussion Papers 36015, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    4. Xiaowei Cai & Richard Volpe & Christiane Schroeter & Lisa Mancino, 2018. "Food retail market structure and produce purchases in the United States," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 756-770, October.
    5. Francesco Longo & Luigi Siciliani & Giuseppe Moscelli & Hugh Gravelle, 2019. "Does hospital competition improve efficiency? The effect of the patient choice reform in England," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 618-640, May.
    6. Huong Thu Le & Ha Trong Nguyen, 2018. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: new insights from Australia using unconditional quantile regression and decomposition," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-42, December.
    7. Cummins, Steven & Findlay, Anne & Petticrew, Mark & Sparks, Leigh, 2008. "Retail-led regeneration and store-switching behaviour," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 288-295.
    8. Cam Hebda & Jeffrey Wagner, 2016. "Nudging healthy food consumption and sustainability in food deserts," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 57-71, March.
    9. Markowitz, Sara & Adams, E. Kathleen & Lewitt, Mary Jane & Dunlop, Anne L., 2017. "Competitive effects of scope of practice restrictions: Public health or public harm?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 201-218.
    10. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Kassenboehmer, Sonja C. & Sinning, Mathias G., 2016. "Locus of control and savings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 113-130.
    11. Bernal, Gloria L. & Penney, Jeffrey, 2019. "Scholarships and student effort: Evidence from Colombia’s Ser Pilo Paga program," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 121-130.
    12. Nikolic, Jelena & Rubil, Ivica & Tomić, Iva, 2017. "Pre-crisis reforms, austerity measures and the public-private wage gap in two emerging economies," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 248-265.
    13. Paula Herrera-Idárraga & Enrique López-Bazo & Elisabet Motellón, 2016. "Regional Wage Gaps, Education and Informality in an Emerging Country: The Case of Colombia," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 432-456, October.
    14. Qin, Yu & Zhu, Hongjia & Zhu, Rong, 2016. "Changes in the distribution of land prices in urban China during 2007–2012," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 77-90.
    15. Vincenzo Andrietti & Xuejuan Su, 2019. "Education curriculum and student achievement: theory and evidence," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 4-19, January.
    16. Sonja C. Kassenboehmer & Sonja G. Schatz, 2014. "Re-employment Expectations and the Eye of Providence," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2014n11, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    17. Katherine P. Adams & Travis J. Lybbert & Stephen A. Vosti & Emmanuel Ayifah, 2016. "Using an economic experiment to estimate willingness-to-pay for a new maternal nutrient supplement in Ghana," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(5), pages 581-595, September.
    18. Dang, Rui, 2015. "Explaining the body mass index gaps between Turkish immigrants and Germans in West Germany 2002-2012: A decomposition analysis of socio-economic causes," Ruhr Economic Papers 580, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    19. Bielen, Samantha & Peeters, Ludo & Marneffe, Wim & Vereeck, Lode, 2018. "Backlogs and litigation rates: Testing congestion equilibrium across European judiciaries," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 9-22.
    20. Bonanno, Alessandro & Bimbo, Francesco & Cleary, Rebecca & Castellari, Elena, 2018. "Food labels and adult BMI in Italy – An unconditional quantile regression approach," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 199-211.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Supermarkets; Retail provision; Food deserts; Diet; Accessibility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • 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:83:y:2019:i:c:p:125-138. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

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

    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 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.

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.