The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused enormous disruptions to not only the United States, but also the global economy. Due to the pandemic, issues in the supply chain and concerns about food shortage drove up the food prices. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the prices for food increased 4.1% and 3.7% over the year ended in August 2020 and August 2021, respectively, while the amount of annual increase in the food prices prior to the COVID-19 pandemic is less than 2.0%. Previous studies show that such kinds of exogenous disasters, including the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, 9/11 terrorist attacks, and major infectious diseases, and the resulted unusual food prices often led to subsequent changes in people's consumption behaviors. We hypothesize that the COVID-19 pandemic causes food price changes and the price changes alter people's grocery shopping behaviors as well. To thoroughly explore this, we formulate our analysis from two different perspectives, by collecting data both globally, from China, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States, and locally, from different groups of people inside the US. In particular, we analyze the trends between food prices and COVID-19 as well as between food prices and spending, aiming to find out their correlations and the lessons for preparing the next pandemic.
翻译:冠状病毒(COVID-19-19)疾病(COVID-19-19)不仅给美国,而且给全球经济造成了巨大的破坏。由于这一流行病,供应链中的问题和对粮食短缺的关切导致食品价格上升。 据美国劳工统计局统计,2020年8月和2021年8月,食品价格在2020年8月和2021年8月分别上涨了4.1%和3.7%,而在COVID-19大流行之前,食品价格的年上涨幅度不到2.0 % 。 先前的研究显示,此类外部灾害,包括2011年的东北地震、911恐怖袭击和主要传染病,以及由此产生的异常粮食价格往往导致随后人们消费行为的变化。我们假设,COVID-19大流行导致食品价格变化和价格变化改变了人们的杂货购物行为。我们从两个不同角度来分析我们的分析,从全球、中国、日本、联合王国和美国以及当地各地不同人群收集数据。我们特别分析了食品价格和CVID-19大流行之间的趋势,以得出未来食品价格和消费的教训。