IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/uersib/256715.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Comparing Alternative Economic Mechanisms To Increase Fruit and Vegetable Purchases

Author

Listed:
  • Prell, Mark
  • Smallwood, David

Abstract

Participants in USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) typically consume less than the amounts of fruits and vegetables (FVs) recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The study considers three economic mechanisms to incentivize purchases of FVs: a bonus for FV spending; a rebate for FV spending; and a Cash Value Voucher (CVV) redeemable for FVs up to a fixed dollar amount. This USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) report uses neoclassical economics to provide a unifying conceptual framework for explaining the effects of these mechanisms, using simplified abstract models. In principle, all three mechanisms can increase FV purchases for the average SNAP consumer. Distributional effects matter in addition to average effects; SNAP consumers who purchase no FVs (in a typical month) can be a sizable subgroup that is important for analysis. For that subgroup, implementing a CVV tends to increase purchases by more than other mechanisms. If the nonpurchasing subgroup is a large proportion of SNAP households, a CVV also tends to be the mechanism that increases average FV purchases the most. If the subgroup is relatively small, a rebate or bonus may promote average FV purchases the most.

Suggested Citation

  • Prell, Mark & Smallwood, David, 2017. "Comparing Alternative Economic Mechanisms To Increase Fruit and Vegetable Purchases," Economic Information Bulletin 256715, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersib:256715
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.256715
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/256715/files/eib-170.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.256715?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Committee to Review the WIC Food Packages of which Barbara L. Devaney is a member, "undated". "WIC Food Packages: Time for a Change," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 989d259284974842a250546c8, Mathematica Policy Research.
    2. Jacob A. Klerman & Susan Bartlett & Parke Wilde & Lauren Olsho, 2014. "The Short-Run Impact of the Healthy Incentives Pilot Program on Fruit and Vegetable Intake," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1372-1382.
    3. Steven T. Yen & Biing-Hwan Lin & David M. Smallwood, 2003. "Quasi- and Simulated-Likelihood Approaches to Censored Demand Systems: Food Consumption by Food Stamp Recipients in the United States," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(2), pages 458-478.
    4. repec:mpr:mprres:4560 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Cleary, Rebecca & Bonanno, Alessandro & Chenarides, Lauren & Goetz, Stephan J., 2018. "Store profitability and public policies to improve food access in non-metro U.S. counties," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 158-170.

    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. Biing‐Hwan Lin & Steven T. Yen & Diansheng Dong & David M. Smallwood, 2010. "Economic Incentives For Dietary Improvement Among Food Stamp Recipients," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 28(4), pages 524-536, October.
    2. Mutuc, Maria Erlinda M. & Rejesus, Roderick M. & Pan, Suwen & Yorobe, Jose M., 2012. "Impact Assessment of Bt Corn Adoption in the Philippines," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 117-135, February.
    3. Fadhuile, Adelaide & Lemarie, Stephane & Pirotte, Alain, 2011. "Pesticides Uses in Crop Production: What Can We Learn from French Farmers Practices?," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103654, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Peltner, Jonas & Thiele , Silke, 2021. "Elasticities of Food Demand in Germany – A Demand System Analysis Using Disaggregated Household Scanner Data," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 70(01), January.
    5. Tafere, Kibrom & Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum & Tamru, Seneshaw & Tefera, Nigussie & Paulos, Zelekawork, 2011. "Food demand elasticities in Ethiopia: Estimates using household income consumption expenditure (HICE) survey data," ESSP working papers 11, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Arthur Lewbel & Lars Nesheim, 2019. "Sparse demand systems: corners and complements," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 1005, Boston College Department of Economics.
    7. Millimet, Daniel L. & Tchernis, Rusty, 2008. "Estimating high-dimensional demand systems in the presence of many binding non-negativity constraints," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 384-395, December.
    8. Silvia Tiezzi & Stefano F. Verde, 2019. "The signaling effect of gasoline taxes and its distributional implications," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(2), pages 145-169, June.
    9. Oliveira, Victor & Frazao, Elizabeth, 2015. "The WIC Program: Background, Trends, and Economic Issues, 2015 Edition," Economic Information Bulletin 197543, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    10. Pofahl, Geoffrey M. & Capps, Oral, Jr. & Clauson, Annette L., 2005. "Demand for Non-Alcoholic Beverages: Evidence From The ACNielsen Home Scan Panel," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19441, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    11. Leschewski, Andrea M. & Weatherspoon, Dave D., 2017. "SNAP Household Food Expenditures Using Non-SNAP Payment Methods," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 259139, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Yen, Steven T. & Yuan, Yan & Liu, Xiaowen, 2009. "Alcohol consumption by men in China: A non-Gaussian censored system approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 162-173, June.
    13. da Costa Silva, Maria Micheliana, 2022. "Thin subsidies effects on food consumption pattern and nutritional status of poor Brazilian children," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 41(1), June.
    14. Thomas, Alban & Chakir, Raja, 2020. "Unintended consequences of environmental policies: the case of set-aside and agricultural intensification," TSE Working Papers 20-1066, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    15. Traore, Togo M. & Fields, Deacue, 2016. "Households Demand for Staple Cereal Commodities in Burkina Faso," 2016 Annual Meeting, February 6-9, 2016, San Antonio, Texas 229989, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    16. Grindal, Todd & Wilde, Parke & Schwartz, Gabe & Klerman, Jacob & Bartlett, Susan & Berman, Danielle, 2016. "Does food retail access moderate the impact of fruit and vegetable incentives for SNAP participants? Evidence from western Massachusetts," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 59-69.
    17. Oliveira, Victor & Frazao, Elizabeth, 2009. "The WIC Program: Background, Trends, and Economic Issues, 2009 Edition," Economic Research Report 55839, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    18. Cornelsen, Laura & Mazzocchi, Mario & Smith, Richard D., 2019. "Fat tax or thin subsidy? How price increases and decreases affect the energy and nutrient content of food and beverage purchases in Great Britain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 318-327.
    19. Janice Dias & Gregory Price, 2012. "The Incredible Shrinking Black Woman: Implications of Health Policies," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 381-388, December.
    20. Gould, Brian W. & Dong, Diansheng, 2004. "Product Quality And The Demand For Food: The Case Of Urban China," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20010, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

    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:ags:uersib:256715. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 bibliographic 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.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ersgvus.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.