Browsing by Subject "Food policy"
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Open Access Equity in Global Food Systems Change: A Cross-Country Analysis of the Drivers of Food Insecurity(2021-04-21) D'Angelo Campos, AlineSince the middle of the 20th century, policy makers have prioritized high agricultural productivity to maximize the production of a handful of staple crops used in the production of ultraprocessed foods and animal products. As a result, our food system produces large externalities for public health and the environment that are not currently priced in the market. Among many calls for change to this mode of production, there are also valid concerns about the impacts of such change on food security. This study sought to contribute to the debate around this topic by analyzing the relationship between food prices and food insecurity at the country level. Through multiple regression analysis, we find that higher food prices are associated with larger increases in food insecurity rates in lower-income settings than in higher-income settings. We also find that several others factors, such as GDP per capita, poverty rate, portion of rural population, and portion of population under 15 years old are significantly associated with food insecurity. These results suggest that focusing policy efforts on non-price related drivers of food insecurity may be effective in combating it, especially in higher-income settings – while offering the important added benefit of minimizing public-health and environmental damage.Item Open Access Essays in Food Retail Demand(2017) Kozlova, OlgaThe aim of this dissertation is to examine, model and estimate the importance of
demand factors that shape the diet quality choices of the U.S. households. In particular,
I focus on the low-income households because these households are consuming
food of lower diet quality. Understanding whether and how income is restricting these
households in their food choices is important for the policy makers. First, I analyze
the importance of the food access in explaining the dierence in diet quality across
income. Second, I study the importance of price eects of high nutritional quality
food for the low-income households. Third, I analyze the dierences in preferences
across the U.S. cities.
Item Open Access Food Crises, Civil Unrest, and the Political Economy(2014-09-18) Schulman, JaakovContemporary notions of food security are ever more connected to the commodification and globalization of modern agriculture. As nations continue to count on consistent and reliable commodity markets to provide food imports at competitive rates, unexpected externalities can prompt sudden spikes in worldwide food prices with severe consequences to poorer populations in developing countries. In some cases, such cost crises provoke episodes of violent unrest and place civil safety and regime stability in jeopardy. This research paper examines the specific characteristics of a political economy connected to occurrences of food-related violent civil unrest, which occurred in response to the most recent 2007-2008 food price crisis. First, this paper outlines the mechanisms of the 2007-2008 crisis and the historical context from which it emerged. Second, this paper reviews the array of existing research that connects changes in food prices with the incidence of civil unrest while presenting explanations for why such riots occurred in some countries and not others. Third, this paper presents a set of empirical measures that attempt to quantify the specific characteristics of a political economy that capture variation between the developing economies in Africa. The continent was chosen as the research sample because it experienced significant cases of civil unrest that coincided with the food price crisis. Fourth, this paper statistically tests those measures of the political economy against metrics for food-related civil unrest to reveal correlations. Finally, Egypt's experience over the course of the 2007-2008 crisis is examined as a case example. The response of Egypt’s government to the crisis is examined in order to place the quantitative models within a concrete, qualitative context. The paper proposes three empirical models with varying approaches to operationalizing the political economies of African countries around the 2007-2008 crisis. The models offer complementary explanations for variation in the incidence of food-related unrest and reliably explain the Egyptian case example as examined in this paper. Finally, the models suggest how governments may augment their capacity to take action to reduce the consequences of price crises by focusing on specific aspects of governance and economic policy.Item Open Access Food Swamps, Obesity & Health Zoning Restrictions on Fast Food Restaurants(2016) Cooksey, KristenProtecting public health is the most legitimate use of zoning, and yet there is minimal progress in applying it to the obesity problem. Zoning could potentially be used to address both unhealthy and healthy food retailers, but lack of evidence regarding the impact of zoning and public opinion on zoning changes are barriers to implementing zoning restrictions on fast food on a larger scale. My dissertation addresses these gaps in our understanding of health zoning as a policy option for altering built, food environments.
Chapter 1 examines the relationship between food swamps and obesity and whether spatial mapping might be useful in identifying priority geographic areas for zoning interventions. I employ an instrumental variables (IV) strategy to correct for the endogeneity problems associated with food environments, namely that individuals may self-select into certain neighborhoods and may consider food availability in their decision process. I utilize highway exits as a source of exogenous variation .Using secondary data from the USDA Food Environment Atlas, ordinary least squares (OLS) and IV regression models were employed to analyze cross-sectional associations between local food environments and the prevalence of obesity. I find even after controlling for food desert effects, food swamps have a positive, statistically significant effect on adult obesity rates.
Chapter 2 applies theories of message framing and prospect theory to the emerging discussion around health zoning policies targeting food environments and to explore public opinion toward a list of potential zoning restrictions on fast-food restaurants (beyond moratoriums on new establishments). In order to explore causality, I employ an online survey experiment manipulating exposure to vignettes with different message frames about health zoning restrictions with two national samples of adult Americans age 18 and over (N1=2,768 and N2=3,236). The second sample oversamples Black Americans (N=1,000) and individuals with high school as their highest level of education. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of six conditions where they were primed with different message frames about the benefits of zoning restrictions on fast food retailers. Participants were then asked to indicate their support for six zoning policies on a Likert scale. Subjects also answered questions about their food store access, eating behaviors, health status and perceptions of food stores by type.
I find that a message frame about Nutrition and increasing Equity in the food system was particularly effective at increasing support for health zoning policies targeting fast food outlets across policy categories (Conditional, Youth-related, Performance and Incentive) and across racial groups. This finding is consistent with an influential environmental justice scholar’s description of “injustice frames” as effective in mobilizing supporters around environmental issues (Taylor 2000). I extend this rationale to food environment obesity prevention efforts and identify Nutrition combined with Equity frames as an arguably universal campaign strategy for bolstering public support of zoning restrictions on fast food retailers.
Bridging my findings from both Chapters 1 and 2, using food swamps as a spatial metaphor may work to identify priority areas for policy intervention, but only if there is an equitable distribution of resources and mobilization efforts to improve consumer food environments. If the structural forces which ration access to land-use planning persist (arguably including the media as gatekeepers to information and producers of message frames) disparities in obesity are likely to widen.