Economics Commons^™

Globalization Of Taste And Modernity: Tracing The Development Of Western Fast Food Corporations In Urban China, Anastasia Gonchar

Student Publications

Food globalization has become an important topic in the discourse on globalization. There has been a rapidly rising trend of multinational food corporations integrating and dominating foreign agro-food markets. A clear example of this trend is present in China, whose economy and food industry experienced an influx of foreign direct investment and multinational retail and restaurant branches during the country’s economic opening in the 1980s. The aim of this research is to analyze the development of food globalization through the lens of Western fast food corporations and their successful integration into the Chinese market. The research also assesses the companies’ …

Food Store Choice Of Poor Households: A Discrete Choice Analysis Of The National Household Food Acquisition And Purchase Survey, Sofia B. Villas-Boas, Rebecca Taylor

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

Policymakers are pursing initiatives to increase food access for low-income households. However, due in part to previous data deficiencies, there is still little evidence supporting the assumption that improved food store access will alter dietary habits, especially for the poorest of U.S. households. This article uses the new National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) to estimate consumer food outlet choices as a function of outlet type and household attributes in a multinomial mixed logit. In particular, we allow for the composition of the local retail food environment to play a role in explaining household store choice decisions and …

The Effects Of Benefit Timing And Income Fungibility On Food Purchasing Decisions Among Snap Households, Joshua P. Berning, Gregory Colson, Jeffery H. Dorfman, Travis A. Smith, Xiaosi Yang

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest nutritional safety net in the United States. Prior research has found that participants have higher consumption shortly after receiving their benefits, followed by lower consumption towards the end of the benefit month. This “SNAP benefit cycle” has been found to have negative effects on beneficiaries. We examine two behavioral responses of SNAP participants that may work in tandem to drive much of the cycle: short-run impatience – a higher preference to consume today; and fungibility of income – the degree of substitutability between a SNAP dollar and a cash dollar. Using …

Cost Of Living, Healthy Food Acquisition, And The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Sanjay Basu, Christopher Wimer, Hilary K. Seligman

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

We tested the hypothesis that high costs of living, such as from high housing rents, reduce the healthfulness of food acquisitions. Using the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (2012-13), we examined the relationships between cost of living and food acquisition patterns among both SNAP participants and non-participants (N = 5,414 individuals from households participating in SNAP, 3,863 individuals from non-participating households <185% of the federal poverty threshold, and 5,036 individuals from non-participating households >185% of the federal poverty threshold). Indices for cost of living included county-level Regional Price Parities for major classes of expenditures and the geographic adjustment to the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which is based on rent prices. We …

Food Security And Geographic Factors In Food Purchase And Acquisition Decisions: A Compilation Of Research Conducted Under Usda Cooperative Agreements 58-5000-1-0050 And 58-5000-3-0066, James P. Ziliak, Craig Gundersen

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Do Snap Recipients Get The Best Prices?, Conrad Lyford, Raymond J. March, Carlos E. Carpio, Tullaya Boonsaeng

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

This paper examines the relationship between SNAP participation and prices paid for food items. To test this relationship, we develop an expensiveness index following the method of Aguiar and Hurst (2007) and use the FoodAPS data set. Using both the ordinary least squares method and controlling for endogeneity using an instrumental variables approach, we found SNAP participation did not hold a statistically significant relationship with the prices paid for food items when we controlled for consumer behavior and food market variables. This suggests that SNAP participants are not systematically disadvantaged in their food purchases. Additional efforts to further educate SNAP …

An Overview Of Snap, Food Security, And Geographic Factors In Food Purchase And Acquisition Decisions, James P. Ziliak, Craig Gundersen

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

In April 2012 the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture embarked on an ambitious new data collection enterprise known as the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS). FoodAPS is innovative in that it is the first nationally representative household survey to collect comprehensive data on household food expenditures and acquisitions, including those obtained using benefits from food assistance programs. The survey includes data from 4,826 households, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households, low-income eligible households not participating in SNAP, and higher income households. FoodAPS is specifically …

Health Plans For Employment: Nutrition, Catherine Ipsen, Bethany Rigles, Casey Nicole Ruggiero, University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

We all know that we should eat “healthy.” But what does that mean? A healthy diet includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins, and healthy fats. Eating these foods gives you energy for the day and can help manage fatigue, anxiety or stress. They also can help protect you against many diseases. Eating the right types of food is important but so is watching how much we eat.

This fact sheet on nutrition provides guidelines on how to do both. This fact sheet also provides tips on how to eat healthy on a tight budget. In addition to the English version …

Biotechnology: Can The Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership Reconcile Eu And Us Differences On Gmos?, Claude Chereau

Economics & Business Analytics Faculty Publications

The US and EU have announced negotiations for a free trade agreement to be completed by end of 2014. While tariff barriers between the two entities are limited, their trade is encumbered with non-tariff barriers (NTBs), one of them being their diverging approach to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the agriculture and food industries. The US operates from a science-based perspective while the EU relies on the precautionary principle. This paper reviews the developments of GMOs in both the US and EU and draws on measures outlined in international organizations and recent trade agreements to explore options for the US …

Milking The System: Do Poor People Deserve Fresh Food?, Melanie M. Meisenheimer

SURGE

Poor Americans are all lazy, selfish people who must first prove their worth as human beings if they want to be able to feed their children.

It sounds harsh, stereotypical, and judgmental when you put it like that, and few people would feel comfortable saying that exact phrase. However, it’s a perception of poverty in America that I’ve found still has a strong grip on our way of thinking. [excerpt]

Can Consumer Demand Deliver Sustainable Food?: Recent Research In Sustainable Consumption Policy & Practice, Cindy Isenhour

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

From the growth of the Slow Food movement, the growth of patronage at farmers’ markets, and the expansion of ecolabeled foods – an unprecedented number of consumer-based movements have risen in response to concerns about the environmental and social effects of contemporary globalized food systems. Recent research suggests that these movements are often successful in their efforts to support more sustainable food systems. Meanwhile, other scholars point out that, despite common assumptions, the contemporary focus on consumer responsibility in policy and practice indicates much more than a process of reflexive modernization. The devolution of responsibility to consumers and the dominance …

How Does Average Protein Consumption Affect Happiness?, Nina Wellander

Economics Honors Projects

This paper uses individual-level data to examine the potential link between average protein consumption and happiness within 87 countries between the years of 1981 and 2007. After controlling for other variables that influence happiness as outlined in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I find that average protein consumption has a statistically significant effect on average subjective well-being. Specifically, the results show that as average protein consumption as a percentage of total caloric intake increases, happiness increases.

Maine Food Trader, New England Environmental Finance Center, University Of Southern Maine

Local Food Systems

A free website for buying, selling, trading and donating local food. Keep food from going to waste and help make food production a good way to make a living in Maine.

Maine Ag Trader, New England Environmental Finance Center, University Of Southern Maine

Local Food Systems

A free classified advertising website for listing anything you need to make your Maine food business succeed.