Food Choices & The Economy

According to a study at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, people buy different groceries as the economy shifts. But, it’s not all straightforward:

“You would expect that as incomes go up, consumption will rise, but that’s not true” for every food product, Azzam said.

Categories assigned the lowest numbers — -2.232 for pickles and sauces, -2.199 for vegetable oil — would be most popular when incomes fall, and least popular when they rise, Azzam said. Frozen specialty foods such as TV dinners (0.913) and store-bought ice (0.867) had the highest numbers, meaning they would be most popular when people have more money to spend. […]

As mentioned later in the article, people apparently tend to purchase more beer and less distilled liquor in tougher economic times. I’m not much of a distilled liquor drinker, but I’m not buyng much beer these days, either ;).

(Link from the CASPIAN newsletter.)