Is food really more expensive in Canada than the US? /

In his paper, Nicholas Li observes that, based on OECD data, food purchased in the home was about 57% more expensive in Canada than in the US in 2011. [...] In a simplistic view, price arbitrage (which admittedly ignores important elements such as brands, package sizes, market outlet, retail pricing practice, local competition, etc.) should drive the price of products we import to be higher in price compared with the US by the cost of transport; products exported to the US would be priced lower than that in the US by the cost of transport. [...] The purpose of this paper is to consider the dynamics, metrics, and implications in comparing food prices between Canada and the US. [...] Food Costs in the US and Canada Data on the costs of food are compiled by the US Department of Agriculture- Economic Research Service2. [...] Compared with the USDA data for 2012, the BLS study showed somewhat higher proportional spending on food consumed in the home in both the US and Canada,.