Economics of Private Food Assistance

A significant strand of my research concerns the economics of food banks, their affiliate food pantries, and other private food assistance. It was the topic for my PhD dissertation, Consumer Use of Food Bank Services: Questions of Timing and Value, which was awarded “Outstanding Dissertation” in 2021 by the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. I have continued my study of private food assistance at the USDA, Economic Research Service, with ongoing projects analyzing USDA programs that partner with private food assistance providers, private food assistance use over the life cycle, optimal locations and opening hours for food pantries, retail donations to food pantries, and sliding scale payment schemes used by Meals on Wheels providers.

In 2022, I was invited to co-edit a Virtual Special Issue on Private Food Assistance in Developed Economies: Programs, Outcomes, and Management in the journal Food Policy. The special issue can be viewed here and our introduction article, which includes a review of recent literature, can be viewed here.

What is free food worth? A nonmarket valuation approach to estimating the welfare effects of food pantry services

with David R. Just, published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (2023)

Food pantries provide groceries to millions of households in the United States every year. Although there is research and information on many other aspects of food pantries, including financial information such as tax valuations for donated food, there is not a literature establishing the economic value of food pantry access for clients and potential clients. We use a valuation approach from environmental economics, revealed preference travel cost modeling, in a novel application to estimate food pantry value. We use a rich administrative dataset from a food bank system in Colorado and estimate demand for pantry visits, exploiting the move of a local pantry to correct for endogeneity bias. We find that the annual value of pantry access to pantry client households is between $600 and $1000, and the value per pantry visit is between $40 and $60. If we assume these values hold nationally, our localized results imply that the collective value of food pantry access among pantry client households may be between $19 billion and $28 billion dollars annually.

But it came from a food pantry: Product stigma and quality perceptions of food pantry offerings

with David R. Just and Christopher B. Barrett, published in Agricultural Economics (2023)

Stigma is commonly cited as a barrier to use and may arise due to the perceived low product quality of pantry offerings. This study tests the hypothesis that “product stigma” is present among prospective pantry clients. In an online experimental survey of low-income respondents, we ask participants to evaluate food items under four different treatments. In a two-by-two randomized design, in one dimension they are told the food is from a grocery store or from a food pantry, and in the other dimension they are or are not provided with photos of the food items, in some cases indicating a popular brand. The study finds that respondents exhibit a negative perception of the quality of food from a pantry, but that perception is largely offset when they are shown an informative visual depiction of that food. The effect of brand information is explored in a second online experimental survey and found to be an important component of consumer perception, partly mitigating the product stigma effect of food pantry offerings, but less so than a photo does. Results suggest that food banks and food pantries may combat product stigma through marketing that uses photos, brand names, or both to depict the quality of the products they offer. Such interventions may encourage current users to visit more frequently and needy non-users to visit at all.

The Other Half: An Examination of Monthly Food Pantry Cycles in the Context of SNAP Benefits

with David R. Just, published in Applied Economics Perspectives and Policy (2021)

This study uses 13 years of data from over 40,000 households who visited a large food bank network in Northern Colorado. Analysis reveals that pantry visitation fluctuates dramatically by day of the month and is highest at the end of the month among the general pantry client population. Further analysis examines these monthly cycles with consideration for the Colorado SNAP distribution schedule, with results that suggest pantry visitation increases when SNAP benefits run out.

Working Papers and Works in Progress

A.T. Byrne, C.G. Gundersen and M.P. Rabbitt, “Private Food Assistance Use Over the Life Cycle”

A.T. Byrne, D.R. Just, and L.A. Paul, “Behavioral responses to sliding scale payment structures in a food assistance context” (Research brief available here)

A.T. Byrne and M.P. Rabbitt, “Measuring Food Bank Services: Methods, Challenges, and Considerations for Economic Analysis”

J. Lowery, T.J. Richards, and A.T. Byrne, “Improving retail inventory management using food donations”

D.R. Just, M. Yan, and A.T. Byrne, “Modeling private food assistance placement and timing”

Grants and Fellowships

2020: Co-author on grant proposal and research lead, COVID-19 Rapid Response Funding ($9,360) to study food bank responses to COVID-19
Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability

2020: Co-author on grant proposal, Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities Program ($500,000) to study food bank operations in rural areas
National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture

2019 –2021: Behavioral Interventions Scholars ($50,000 fellowship) to study sliding scale payment schemes among Meals on Wheels providers
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, Dept. of H.H.S.

2018: Author of grant proposal and research lead, Small Prizes in Behavioral Economics ($6,500) to study stigma in food pantries
Russell Sage Foundation