The Effects of Income, Assets, Food Programs, and Household Size on Food Consumption

The availability of food to American households is a continuing public problem. There is concern about adequate amounts of food for households and about the coverage and high costs of food distribution programs. Yet the relationships between food availability and its determinants, including food distribution programs, have not been examined closely. This is partly because major increases in these programs have occurred recently and partly because data on all major sources of food for households have not been available. Studies by Prais and Houthakker, Friedman, Currie, and others have examined income food expenditure relationships among European and U.S. households. However, these investigations were conducted prior to the implementation of sizable food distribution programs. Specific questions that have not been fully answered are: How is the value of food consumption affected by receipt of "bonus" food stamps and free lunches?' Have the relative impacts of income and household size on food expenditures changed? The purpose of this paper is to examine these questions using a 1972-73 sample of households containing eightto twelve-year-old children in the state of Washington.