The effect of education on fruit and vegetable purchase disparities in Chile

Abstract

PurposeThe objective of this article is to analyze fruit and vegetable (FV) purchasing decisions between 2011–12 and 2016–17 in Chile, and FV purchases by level of education in this period as determinant to explain dietary disparities across population groups.Design/methodology/approachUsing Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, the authors analyze FV purchases over time. Taking into consideration censoring, this study uses two waves of the Family Budget Survey (national representative) by the National Statistics Institute of Chile.FindingsThe authors find that when comparing income quintiles 1–4, between 2011–12 and 2016–17, the years of education of the household head cannot explain FV purchases disparities. In contrast, in income quintile 5, between 2011–12 and 2016–17, the marginal effect of education of the household head has significantly decreased FV purchases. When analyzing social determinants, gender and income quintiles in 2016–17, they do not have a significant effect on FV purchase disparities. However, the zone of the household, metropolitan zone vs other urban zones in the country has a significant effect on FV purchase disparities.Research limitations/implicationsThe datasets cover food home purchases.Practical implicationsThe authors can conclude the relevance of implementing policies and programs to lead for healthier food environments such as offer more FVs in the school feeding program and social protection nutrition sensitive measures.Originality/valueUsing two waves of a nationally representative dataset, this article decomposes the effect of education of the household head to explain FV purchase disparities.