These days, you hear a lot about food deserts — even on the Morning Shift, we’ve talked about the impact of food deserts in communities, particularly on Chicago’s South and West sides.

A food desert is a neighborhood where residents would have to walk more than a mile to the nearest grocery store. And this distance can cause many residents in these neighborhoods to rely on corner stores, where the food supply is both limited and may lack nutritional value.

But a new study by economists at New York University, Stanford, and University of Chicago’s Booth School suggests that even if there were access to healthier food options, like a nearby supermarket, that doesn’t necessarily mean residents would buy the healthier options.

Morning Shift talks to Professor Jean-Pierre Dube, one of the researchers of the study, to hear more on the findings.

GUEST:

Jean-Pierre Dube, professor at the University of Chicago