{"title":"Measuring local poverty and food insecurity: Developing an affordability index for healthy diets","authors":"Davide Marino , Daniela Bernaschi , Francesca B. Felici , Federica Scannavacca , Bianca Minotti","doi":"10.1016/j.rspp.2025.100244","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The article examines inequalities in access to a healthy diet through the development of a Food Affordability Index (FAI). The analysis integrates both national and local perspectives, with a particular focus on the city of Rome. At the national level, rising food prices and stagnant wages have exacerbated disparities, with more pronounced effects in peripheral areas and Southern Italy. At the local level, the characteristics of the food environment, shaped by differences in costs and food procurement opportunities, further intensify the <em>food insecurity premium</em>, placing a disproportionate burden on low-income households. The study highlights how variations in food prices significantly influence the economic accessibility of a healthy diet, with notable differences across distribution channels. The findings indicate that access to healthy food is determined by economic and territorial factors that create disparities in consumption patterns across different population groups and geographic areas. The proposed index serves as a valuable analytical tool for assessing such imbalances and evaluating the impact of structural factors on food costs and affordability. This analysis contributes to the ongoing debate on the economic sustainability of healthy diets in urban contexts, providing insights for the development of strategies aimed at reducing disparities in food access.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45520,"journal":{"name":"Regional Science Policy and Practice","volume":"17 12","pages":"Article 100244"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Regional Science Policy and Practice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1757780225000745","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"GEOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The article examines inequalities in access to a healthy diet through the development of a Food Affordability Index (FAI). The analysis integrates both national and local perspectives, with a particular focus on the city of Rome. At the national level, rising food prices and stagnant wages have exacerbated disparities, with more pronounced effects in peripheral areas and Southern Italy. At the local level, the characteristics of the food environment, shaped by differences in costs and food procurement opportunities, further intensify the food insecurity premium, placing a disproportionate burden on low-income households. The study highlights how variations in food prices significantly influence the economic accessibility of a healthy diet, with notable differences across distribution channels. The findings indicate that access to healthy food is determined by economic and territorial factors that create disparities in consumption patterns across different population groups and geographic areas. The proposed index serves as a valuable analytical tool for assessing such imbalances and evaluating the impact of structural factors on food costs and affordability. This analysis contributes to the ongoing debate on the economic sustainability of healthy diets in urban contexts, providing insights for the development of strategies aimed at reducing disparities in food access.
期刊介绍:
Regional Science Policy & Practice (RSPP) is the official policy and practitioner orientated journal of the Regional Science Association International. It is an international journal that publishes high quality papers in applied regional science that explore policy and practice issues in regional and local development. It welcomes papers from a range of academic disciplines and practitioners including planning, public policy, geography, economics and environmental science and related fields. Papers should address the interface between academic debates and policy development and application. RSPP provides an opportunity for academics and policy makers to develop a dialogue to identify and explore many of the challenges facing local and regional economies.