Do Income Constraints Inhibit Spending on Fruits and Vegetables among Low-Income Households

This study assesses whether income constraints inhibit spending on fruits and vege-tables among low-income households. If this is the case, then it is hypothesized that the distribution of expenditures on fruits and vegetables by low-income households should be stochastically dominated by the distribution of expenditures on these same food items by other households. Moreover, it must be the case that low-income house-holds would increase their spending on fruits and vegetables in response to an increase in their income. Using household data from the 2000 Consumer Expenditure Survey, a test of stochastic dominance is performed. Censored quantile regressions are also estimated at selected points of the conditional expenditure distribution. Low-income households are found to spend less on fruits and vegetables than other house-holds, but they are not responsive to changes in income. Key words: censored least absolute deviations, consumption, fruits and vegetables, low-income households, nutrition, sample design, stochastic dominanc