Price and Income Elasticities for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in an Urban Food Desert

Abstract

Detroit, MI is arguably America’s worst food desert, in terms of size and number of people impacted, and is a city where there have been no full-service supermarket chains operating since 2007. This study addresses the knowledge gap concerning the demand for fruits and vegetables in a predominantly African American food desert. Using retail data from a non-profit owned retail outlet specializing in fresh fruits and vegetables in the Piety Hill community of Detroit, this study estimates the income and price elasticities of fresh fruits and vegetables among residents of this low-income, food-desert community. The results of this study show that if urban food desert consumers, from an environment that has been predominantly serviced by convenience and liquor stores for several decades, are offered a normally priced healthy good of relatively acceptable quality that is accessible by the community, they will purchase those goods. This study is a seminal approach in addressing the notion that perception, additional data, and innovative intervention strategies are required to effectively pursue long-term solutions to the urban food desert problem.