The Economics of Eating Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: Recognizing Discernible Patterns for Obesity Differences among Lower- and Higher-Income Consumers

Fresh fruits and vegetables are perceived to be nutritious and healthy, but more costly than some less nutritious foods. Supermarket scanner data are used to analyze the purchase behavior of higher- and lower-income consumers for produce. Eight sub-categories of fruit are identified; six of vegetables. A SUR model is specified and used to estimate a series of own-price and cross-price elasticities. Prices paid per ounce in each sub-category are calculated and these prices show lower-income consumers paying lower prices for every sub-category except bananas. Lower-income consumers are also shown to have higher own-price elasticitie