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Not enough money or not enough time to satisfy the Thrifty Food Plan? A cost difference approach for estimating a money-time threshold

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  • Davis, George C.
  • You, Wen

Abstract

Food production at home requires money and time. Food assistance programs focus exclusively on the money cost, while ignoring the time cost. This one-dimensional focus could undermine the effectiveness of food assistance programs. In the spirit of Vickery (1977), this paper uses a cost difference approach to develop a money-time threshold, and several related metrics, to determine whether money or time is the most limiting resource in reaching the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) target. In our empirical analysis we find that when time is ignored, single headed households spend on average 35% more than required to meet the TFP target. However, when time is included, these households spend on average 40% less than required to meet the TFP target. In addition, we find that when time is ignored, 62% of single headed households on average spend enough money to reach the TFP target, but when time is included, only 13% of single headed households spend enough on average to reach the TFP target. Our empirical results suggest that time is more constraining than money in reaching the TFP target. These results imply that metrics solely focusing on money could severely underestimate the gap between actual expenditures and those required to reach the TFP target.

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  • Davis, George C. & You, Wen, 2011. "Not enough money or not enough time to satisfy the Thrifty Food Plan? A cost difference approach for estimating a money-time threshold," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 101-107, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:36:y:2011:i:2:p:101-107
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    Cited by:

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    9. Bencsik, Panka & Lusher, Lester & Taylor, Rebecca L.C., 2023. "Slow Traffic, Fast Food: The Effects of Time Lost on Food Store Choice," IZA Discussion Papers 16036, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Wen You & George C. Davis, 2019. "Estimating dual headed time in food production with implications for SNAP benefit adequacy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 249-266, March.
    11. Yanliang Yang & George C Davis & Wen You, 2019. "Measuring Food Expenditure Poverty in SNAP Populations: Some Extensions with an Application to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 133-152, March.
    12. Fabrice Etilé & Marie Plessz, 2018. "Women’s employment and the decline of home cooking: Evidence from France, 1985–2010," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 939-970, December.
    13. Burney, Shaheer, 2018. "In-kind benefits and household behavior: The impact of SNAP on food-away-from-home consumption," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 134-146.
    14. George Davis, 2014. "Food at home production and consumption: implications for nutrition quality and policy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 565-588, September.
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    16. Robinson, Courtney N. & Baker, Gregory A. & Harwood, Michael J. & Diekmann, Lucy O., 2020. "Food expenditures and consumption by food bank clients in Silicon Valley," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 23(4), June.
    17. Rudi, Jeta & Çakır, Metin, 2017. "Vice or virtue: How shopping frequency affects healthfulness of food choices," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 207-217.
    18. Bencsik, Panka & Lusher, Lester & Taylor, Rebecca, 2021. "Slow Traffic, Fast Food," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313856, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Shigeru Matsumoto & Thunehiro Otsuki, 2022. "Who changed food consumption behavior after the COVID-19 pandemic? Empirical analysis of Japanese household spending panel data," Working Papers e173, Tokyo Center for Economic Research.
    20. You, Wen & Davis, George C. & Yang, Jinyang, 2022. "Viewpoint: An assessment of recent SNAP benefit increases allowing for money and time variability," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    21. Rebecca L. C. Taylor, 2022. "It's in the bag? The effect of plastic carryout bag bans on where and what people purchase to eat," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(5), pages 1563-1584, October.
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    24. Davis, George C. & You, Wen & Yang, Yanliang, 2020. "Are SNAP benefits adequate? A geographical and food expenditure decomposition," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).

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