Issues in Food Assistance

ERS has begun to use micro-level household and store scanner data to measure the effect of changing retail store formats on food prices.Increasingly, retail food markets are consolidating, leading to concerns that reduced competition will cause prices to rise.Counterbalancing this effect is the increased market share of warehouse and supercentertype stores that often compete with standard supermarkets by offering lower prices and volume discounts.This project will also examine if, and to what extent, the changing landscape of retail outlets influences the CPI for food.