{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02038369304556355, 'fraction_numerical': 0.002398081534772182, 'mean_word_length': 4.798611111111111, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Food Banks and Retail Markups

Food banks play a critical part in the food distribution system. In this paper, we examine the impact of food bank donations on retailer markups using a unique store-level data set on donations, labor employment, sales, and capital employment. We frame our empirical model of food bank donations and store-level markups in terms of a theoretical model of quality-based price discrimination and retail sales. We find that stores that donate more food to the local food bank are able to charge higher markups - 33% higher - after controlling for the well-known endogeneity problems that bedevil production analysis. Our findings suggest that donations are not necessarily only altruistic gestures on the part of retailers, but rather part of a symbiotic relationship between food banks and food retailers.