Do the Poor Pay More for Food? Evidence from Tanzania

June 25, 2019 - <reardon@msu.edu> and David L. Tschirley

Sauer, C. M., Reardon, T. A., Tschirley, D. L., Waized, B., Alphonce, R., & Ndyetabula, D. (2019). Do the Poor Pay More for Food? Evidence from Tanzania.

Abstract

  • The subject of whether the poor pay more has been a subject of rigorous debate for decades.
  • Analysts have used various identification strategies to answer the question – predominant of which is to establish the existence of bulk discounts and conclude that the poor pay more because they make several purchases of smaller unit sizes.
  • This research adds to the literature by including unique spatialand retail variables.
  • Our research questions are as follows: what are the patternsand determinants of the prices of various staple foods in Tanzania?How do food prices differ over space, city size, andretail type? Is it really the case that “the poor pay more”?
 

Authors

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