Determinants of food deserts

Pedro A. Alviola; Rodolfo M. Nayga; Michael R. Thomsen; Zhongyi Wang

doi:10.1093/ajae/aat029

Determinants of food deserts

Pedro A. Alviola, Rodolfo M. Nayga, Michael R. Thomsen, Zhongyi Wang

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The food environment facing low-income urban and rural communities in Arkansas over the 2004-2010 periods was studied. In addition to a binary food desert measure, grocery store access in terms of miles to the nearest grocery store was also measured. To characterize the food environment, the study began with census blocks. A block is the smallest census geography and there are 141,178 census blocks in Arkansas. The radial distance from the centroid of each census block to the nearest grocery store was measured and establishment densities for grocery stores were computed, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants at various radial distances around the census block. After measuring the food environment at the block level, the block-group level aggregates was computed as the population weighted average over all the blocks contained within a given block group. The results suggest that Arkansans living in food deserts do appear to have more exposure to fast-food restaurants and convenience stores.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1259-1265
Number of pages	7
Journal	American Journal of Agricultural Economics
Volume	95
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/ajae/aat029
Publication status	Published - 2013 Oct

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Pedro Alviola, IV, ([email protected]) is a program associate, Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr., ([email protected]) is a Tyson endowed chair, Michael Thomsen ([email protected]) is an associate professor, and Zhongyi Wang ([email protected]) is a former graduate research assistant in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Nayga is also an adjunct researcher at the Norwegian Agricultural Economics Research Institute. This research was funded by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative of the US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, grant 2011-68001-30014. This work was also partly supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2011-330-B00074).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Economics and Econometrics

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title = "Determinants of food deserts",

abstract = "The food environment facing low-income urban and rural communities in Arkansas over the 2004-2010 periods was studied. In addition to a binary food desert measure, grocery store access in terms of miles to the nearest grocery store was also measured. To characterize the food environment, the study began with census blocks. A block is the smallest census geography and there are 141,178 census blocks in Arkansas. The radial distance from the centroid of each census block to the nearest grocery store was measured and establishment densities for grocery stores were computed, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants at various radial distances around the census block. After measuring the food environment at the block level, the block-group level aggregates was computed as the population weighted average over all the blocks contained within a given block group. The results suggest that Arkansans living in food deserts do appear to have more exposure to fast-food restaurants and convenience stores.",

author = "Alviola, {Pedro A.} and Nayga, {Rodolfo M.} and Thomsen, {Michael R.} and Zhongyi Wang",

note = "Funding Information: Pedro Alviola, IV, ([email protected]) is a program associate, Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr., ([email protected]) is a Tyson endowed chair, Michael Thomsen ([email protected]) is an associate professor, and Zhongyi Wang ([email protected]) is a former graduate research assistant in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Nayga is also an adjunct researcher at the Norwegian Agricultural Economics Research Institute. This research was funded by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative of the US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, grant 2011-68001-30014. This work was also partly supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2011-330-B00074).",

year = "2013",

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doi = "10.1093/ajae/aat029",

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AU - Wang, Zhongyi

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PY - 2013/10

Y1 - 2013/10

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Determinants of food deserts

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