Place-based Policies and Food Access

Abstract

Significant and persistent disparities in health and economic mobility highlight the potential role of an individual’s neighborhood environment. The neighborhood food environment, the mix of restaurant and retail food stores in a neighborhood, has been closely linked to disparities in diet quality and obesity. The causal relationship remains uncertain between grocery store presence and health outcomes, but robust evidence links fast food availability and obesity. Despite its importance, little is known about the forces that shape neighborhood food environments. This dissertation examines how place-based policies designed to stimulate economic development in distressed areas affect local food environments. Using a combination of quasi-experimental econometric strategies, I analyze the impacts of the federal New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program, State Enterprise Zone (EZ) programs, and heirs’ property prevalence on food access across different U.S. regions. Chapter 1 investigates the long-term impacts of the NMTC program on the food retail landscape. Exploiting the program’s eligibility cutoff at 80% of State Median Family Income, I implement a Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design (FRD) to estimate the causal effect of NMTC allocation on the concentration of food retailers from 2005 to 2021. The analysis reveals that NMTC investment led to short-term increases in supermarkets and combination stores, but only combination store growth persisted in the long term. Supplemental Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW) and

2SLS IV estimates support these findings, with limited evidence of spillover effects on less healthy food outlets like fast food and convenience stores. In addition, I find no signs of increased residential mobility or displacement following NMTC investment, reinforcing the credibility of the causal interpretation. Chapter 2 focuses on State Enterprise Zone (EZ) programs, which vary widely in structure and implementation. Using a Propensity Score Matching (PSM) approach on a panel of tracts across ten states from 2005 to 2021, I estimate the effect of EZ policies on different types of food retailers. The findings are mixed and contextdependent: while general EZ incentives did not consistently improve access to healthy food outlets, programs with hiring-based incentives showed positive effects in the short and medium term. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that EZ programs may have adverse effects in predominantly Black neighborhoods, reducing access to grocery and convenience stores and potentially reinforcing existing disparities. Chapter 3 introduces a novel exploration of how heirs’ property, a form of informal land ownership—constrains food access in the rural Southeast. Using parcel-level data from CoreLogic and USDA Food Access Research Atlas across seven Southeastern states, I construct an index of heirs’ property prevalence and estimate its relationship with USDA-defined Low-Access (LA) and Low-Income, Low-Access (LILA) tract status. Results indicate that tracts with higher shares of heirs’ property are significantly more likely to be classified as food deserts. The relationship is pronounced in areas with higher poverty and unemployment rates and lower educational attainment. It suggests that legal land ownership disputes impede investment and may contribute to structural disinvestment in rural food environments.

Overall, the findings highlight that place-based policies can significantly impact local food environments. However, their effects vary substantially depending on design, implementation, and contextual factors. This dissertation contributes to the existing literature by providing policy-relevant insights into the intersection of economic development initiatives and food access offering evidence to inform more equitable and targeted interventions aimed to reduce food access disparities in underserved areas.