Are Lower Income Households Willing and Able To Budget for Fruits and Vegetables?
By Hayden Stewart and Noel Blisard
Economic Research Report No. (ERR-54) 29 pp,
January 2008
Households have a number of needs and wants that all compete for scarce
resources. Given this situation, are low-income households, in particular,
generally willing and able to budget for healthful foods like fruits and
vegetables, or are other goods and services, including other foods, more of a
priority? For six out of seven selected types of food, we find that households
with an income below 130 percent of the poverty line spend less
money than higher income households. However, we also find that these
households, when given a small increase in income, will allocate more
money to only two out of the seven products, beef and frozen prepared
foods. These foods may be priorities for reasons of taste and convenience.
For additional money to be allocated to fruits and vegetables, a household’s
income needs to be slightly greater than 130 percent of the poverty line.
Keywords: Food expenditures, fruits, vegetables, hierarchical demand, low-income households, food spending, ERS, USDA
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Updated date: January 7, 2008
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