The Role of Community Food Services in Reducing U.S. Food Insufficiency in the COVID-19 Pandemic
We use state-level Census Household Pulse Survey data to examine the role of community food
services such as food banks and pantries in reducing food insufficiency during the COVID-19
pandemic in the United States. Food insufficiency increased for all income classes during the
pandemic, and especially for the lower and middle classes. We adopt a fixed effects filtered
estimator to estimate the coefficients on time-invariant regressors in a fixed effects panel model.
Estimation results suggest community food services contribute to mitigating food insufficiency,
especially for the middle class and in the early months of the pandemic.
Authors: Zheng Tian, Claudia Schmidt, Stephan J Goetz
Publication: Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics Date Published: October 1, 2021