Population decline and changes in food store access

Abstract

I examine how neighbourhood-level food store access, proxied by distance to the nearest food store, changed in Sweden between 2000 and 2013, and how this change is correlated with changes in potential market size, proxied by population density. I find that distance has increased in rural and more affluent neighbourhoods. Furthermore, an increase in distance is negatively correlated with an increase in population density and is most pronounced in rural areas. The results are driven by the growing, rather than the declining, regions. Since the latter have often been a target for subsidies over the years, this could suggest that the aid may have had an impact.