Food Prices Before and After Distribution of Welfare Checks … Low-Income Areas, Seven Cities, 1969

This report provides the results of a survey conducted by USDA in response to allegations that retail food stores operating in low-income areas raise prices to coincide with the issuance of welfare checks. Survey data--based on purchases made during two visits, 1 week apart, to 261 low-income area stores in seven cities--showed no identifiable pattern of price increases after the distribution of checks. Both price increases and decreases occurred, but, overall, the total cost of approximately 3,900 items purchased each week increased less than 0.1 percent from the first to the second week. In all cities surveyed, there was a significant correlation between the number of items that were not price marked and the number of price changes.