Quantifying Consumer Welfare Impacts of Higher Meat Prices During the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Diansheng Dong, Hayden Stewart, Xiao Dong, and William Hahn

While the U.S. food system has been largely able to maintain operations and provide consumers with the variety of foods they desire since the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began, U.S. households faced sharply higher food prices for many staple items, especially meat in 2020. In this study, U.S. households’ meat purchases at retail stores for at-home consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic are examined and compared with those before the virus outbreak.

Keywords: COVID-19, coronavirus, pandemic, meat demand, scanner data, compensating variation, food system resiliency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, Economic Research Service, ERS

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