User talk:Cd631874/Food desert

The roles and responsibilities of businesses

This proposed section for the Food dessert article shows some presuppositions about the role and responsibilities of businesses related to food deserts. It assumes that businesses, at least grocery stores, that are not making a profit have a moral obligation to remain in a place and take a loss.

If a business is not producing adequate profit in an area, the owner generally closes the business and moves elsewhere. It is the nature of a business to maximize profits. This is true for all businesses: tire stores, tattoo parlors, restaurants, hair and nail salons, upholstery repair, coffee shops, grocery stores, etc. Even post offices.

That ideology that businesses must remain in place and take a loss to serve the community is one point of view, but not the only one. This is a complex topic. Pete unseth (talk) 18:01, 9 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Correlation does not prove causation

In the present draft, you cited studies that show a correlation between food deserts and other facts, such as heart disease. However, correlation does not prove causation. Some of the trends are related to other factors, such as poverty. Food deserts to not directly cause poverty. They may arise from poverty.

The article on food deserts has been very weak on the causes of food deserts. Food deserts are the result of a series of changes in neighborhoods. Shoplifting is one. Less disposable income in the neighborhood is another. People choosing to buy fast food instead of buying groceries is another. I welcome any editor who addresses causes, a complex sub-topic. Pete unseth (talk) 18:02, 19 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Peer Review Comment

These are really thoughtful, detailed, and well-researched revisions to the food desert article. You have a great eye for reworking/restructuring content to better convey information. The content you include is all very well written and important—nothing feels unnecessary or peripheral to the topic. In terms of recommendations, I would list the various scholarly arguments around food deserts in a more clear way so that readers can more easily parse through which theories are proposing what. I’d also recommend backing up all your statements with clear sources or evidence. Whenever you state “some scholars” or “some sources,” you should mention specific names/dates/studies. Additionally, I think it would add value to your article to include multiple sources discussing the same specific issues, instead of relying on one source to describe each piece of your analysis (aka you should never have a whole paragraph with only one source). As for the structure of your article, I would go through and make your section titles/capitalization more consistent and I would move the “Nutrition” section up further in the article because it is more of a foundational aspect of the topic. I’d also recommend considering changing the section “Impacts to community health” to “Effects of food deserts” to provide a nice, clear counter to the “Causes of food deserts” section. Efloden (talk) 20:14, 25 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]