The Role of Demographic Data Bias in the Under-Provision of Retail: A Quasi-Experimental Case Study of Low Food Access Neighborhoods in Twenty-Five Southern Metros

Abstract

Municipal policy attempting to remediate low food access neighborhoods tends to focus on improving demand conditions in these neighborhoods. We investigate the role of two fundamental measures of food demand (population and income) and the biases inherent in these data in creating low food access neighborhoods. Population and income data were collected for a 1-mile radius surrounding seventy-one grocery desert sites in Southern U.S. metro areas, those results were compared to thirty-eight low-income, non-desert sites in the same metros. No significant difference between the demand characteristics of desert and non-desert sites was found in our sample—suggesting that policy may need to be refocused on issues other than demand metrics. In addition, we detected significant demand underestimation bias from one source commonly used by grocery stores. Given these findings we believe that parcel level characteristics such as visibility, accessibility, and buildability may play a larger role in remediating low food access than addressing demand conditions.