Why dire pronouncements about food affordability are overcooked

Marian L. Tupy is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, where Gale L. Pooley is an adjunct scholar.

With one big family-gathering meal out of the way and more soon to come (Christmas? New Year’s? Super Bowl?), let’s talk about food prices and the “affordability crisis” much in the news and in politicians’ rhetoric. Judging from polls, many Americans believe that the grocery prices are slipping out of reach. Inflation since 2021 left a mark on household budgets, but step back from the checkout line and look at the longer record. Measured the way people experience prices — through hours of work — food at home has become more affordable, not less.