Use of a Nutrient Rich Foods Index to Study the Effect of Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance on Supermarket Food Prices by Nutrient Quality

Minimum wage policies may increase the capacity of low wage workers to achieve higher quality diets through greater food purchasing power. However, limited evidence is available on the effect of minimum wage policies on consumer food prices and even fewer studies perform cost analyses that include measures of food quality. One hypothesis is that the Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinance (SMWO) may result in changes in food prices differentially by food quality such that higher quality foods (i.e., more nutrient dense foods) have a higher increase in prices than lower quality foods. The present study tested: a) whether there is a change in food prices in response to the SMWO 2-years post-implementation, and b) whether there is a differential change in food prices by food quality such that nutrient dense foods had a higher increase than nutrient poor foods.

Materials Available

• Abstract

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Project Type(s): Master's Thesis

Author(s): Catherine House

Program(s): Master of Science

Year: 2018

Adviser(s):

• Jennifer Otten