Grocery Store Closures and Household Nutritional Choices
29 Pages Posted: 4 Aug 2022
Date Written: June 2, 2022
Abstract
We analyze the impact of a temporary shock to food supply on households’ dietary choices. We use hurricane-induced closures of grocery stores, focusing on temporary closures. Results show that store closures influence households’ purchasing patterns even after the grocery store has reopened. We find a decrease in the nutritional value of purchase baskets of treated households for the nine-month period after the store has reopened, despite no change in total expenditures. Our findings support the hypothesis that supply factors play a substantive role in shaping household diets.
Keywords: Store Choice, Dietary Choice, Food Accessibility, Health
JEL Classification: D12, I12, I14, L81
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation