Framing consumer food demand responses in a viral pandemic

Abstract

In this paper, I explore several issues related to how the COVID‐19 pandemic might impact consumer demand for food. These impacts relate to the structure of preferences in the context of a pandemic, income and time constraints, and price effects. Discussion includes accounting for differential impacts of COVID‐19 on demand for food across sociodemographic characteristics, and several high‐level issues and observations related to where and how consumers shop and what they buy. My own thinking leads me to conclude that demand‐side factors will account for most of the changes we see in retail food market. These demand‐side effects will be dominated by income effects, the opportunity cost of time, and longer planning horizons on the part of consumers.