Food, Drug, and Safety

Do Big Box Grocers Improve Food Security?

Charles Courtemanche – Georgia State University

This project aims to identify the causal effects of big box grocers and warehouse clubs on household and child food insecurity. These types of stores may reduce food insecurity by lowering food prices and expanding food availability, especially for low-income households in areas with few grocery options. Food insecurity related outcomes (binary variables for household food insecurity, household very low food security, child food insecurity, and child very low food security) will come from the Current Population Study December Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS).U.S. Census Bureau Research at the Center for Economic Studies and the Research Data Centers: 2014 45

Food Manufacturing and Markup Estimation

Jan De Loecker – Princeton University; Paul Scott – Princeton University

This project aims to contribute to an understanding of recent changes in the composition of food manufacturing industries, fluid milk manufacturing in particular. This research proposes two tests of a new method for estimating price/cost ratios: The first compares it to demand-based methods, and the second considers the importance of observing gross output quantities rather than just revenues. The new method provides a robust method for estimating markups, which may serve the Census Bureau as a broad measure of industry performance.

Firm Dynamics in the Agricultural Services Sector: Evidence from the Longitudinal Business Database

Richard Dunn – Texas A&M University

This project will study firm dynamics in the agricultural services sector. The research will determine the rate of establishment entry and exit, the size distribution of entrants and exiters, the age distribution of exiters, and the distribution of wages paid to workers in this sector. Because the agricultural sector of the U.S. economy has been subject to significant structural changes in the past three decades, the project will also consider whether establishment dynamics in the agricultural services sector have been changing systematically over time. This research will also examine changes in the structure of in the agricultural services sector and compare whether establishment dynamics differ between single- and multi-establishment firms.

Understanding the Relationships between the School Breakfast Program and Food Insecurity

Jason Fletcher – University of Wisconsin; David Frisvold – University of Iowa

The main objective of this project is to produce new causal evidence of the importance of the School Breakfast Program (SBP) in reducing food insecurity in school-aged children. This research also examines whether the SBP cushions the impacts of high food prices on food insecurity in families and whether the SBP has been effective in dampening the rise in food insecurity during the recent recession.