Off-campus WSU users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your WSU access ID and password, then click the "Off-campus Download" button below.

Non-WSU users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.

Access Type

WSU Access

Date of Award

January 2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Economics

First Advisor

Shooshan Danagoulian

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted widespread lifestyle changes across the United States. Leveraging SafeGraph's foot traffic dataset, Patterns, this study assesses the impact of these policies on visits to fast-food outlets, dine-in restaurants, and grocery stores at the Census Tract level from January 2019 to May 2022. Employing a two-way fixed effects difference-in-differences model, significant decreases in visits to all food establishments post-March 2020 were observed, particularly pronounced for restaurants and fast-food outlets, with effects persisting beyond the pandemic. Notably, there was a shift towards increased grocery store visits. Additionally, this dissertation investigates how COVID-19 disruptions influenced consumers' grocery purchasing behaviors. Analyzing Nielsen's Consumer Panel dataset, households in counties with stay-at-home orders exhibited increased total spending on both healthy and unhealthy foods, alongside minor compositional changes in weekly purchases enduring beyond the pandemic's initial phase. Moreover, variations in shopping behavior were observed based on household location, structure, and socioeconomic status. Finally, this dissertation examines the impact of alcohol to-go policies implemented by many states during the COVID pandemic. Despite no significant increase in restaurant or bar patronage, there is a notable 14.9% rise in drunk driving arrests following the policy implementation was observed.

Download
Off-campus Download

Share

COinS