Do the Urban Poor Face Higher Food Prices? Evidence from Vietnam

Whether the poor face higher food prices is unsettled in the literature after more than four decades of study. While unit values from household surveys suggest higher prices for the poor, outlet surveys typically find food prices varying with store type but not with neighborhood income. Most outlet surveys are from rich countries, with just one spatially limited study from a developing country. In this paper we use especially collected food price data from metropolitan areas of Vietnam to test whether the urban poor face higher food prices. We also link the price surveys to a household survey to examine whether household survey and outlet data both give the same answer to the question of whether the poor face higher prices.