Food Choices and Response to Public Policies: New Evidence on the Behavioral Dimension
AAEA members present research at ASSA
AAEA invites media to attend their sessions at the ASSA 2025 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA.
On Friday, January 3, 2025 at 8:00 am – 10:00 am (PST) at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, three AAEA members will speak at the session “Food Choices and Response to Public Policies: New Evidence on the Behavioral Dimension.”
Presentations in this session include (speakers are listed first):
On Nudging and Psychological Reactance
- David Just, Cornell University
- Gnel Gabrielyan, California Franchise Tax Board
Nudging has been suggested as an effective means of encouraging more nutritious food choices without inducing pushback or reactance. Several have pushed back on nudging in this context, often citing only marginal or noisy effects. We test the notion that nudges avoid psychological reactance using a laboratory experiment. We replicate the results of a well known nudge that is intended to reduce the consumption of snack food. In one condition, we explain the purpose of the nudge to participants and find evidence that understanding the nudge leads to classical reactance.
The Effect of Soda Taxes: Testing for Heterogeneity by Health Conditions
- David Frisvold, University of Iowa
- John Cawley, Cornell University
- Felipe Lozano-Rojas, University of Georgia
This study estimates the impact of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and tests for heterogeneity in these effects by whether individuals have diet-related chronic health conditions (diabetes or obesity), which affect the externalities and internalities associated with SSB consumption. We combine information on health conditions from the Nielsen Annual Ailments, Health, and Wellness Survey with purchases from the Nielsen Consumer Panel Data and nutrition information from the USDA’s FoodData Central, and examine changes over time in the presence of SSB taxes in various U.S. cities in order to estimate the heterogeneous impacts of these taxes.
Food Purchasing Choices as an Indicator of Stress and Mental Health: Evidence from the Italian COVID-19 Lockdown and Post-lockdown Periods
- Mario Mazzocchi, University of Bologna
- Beatrice Biondi, University of Bologna
This empirical study explores whether monitoring of food purchasing behaviours may serve as a rapid indicator of the degree of stress, anxiety and mental health in a (sub)-population. Using household-scanner data for Italy and causal inference methods, the study exploits the natural experiment of the 2020 Covid19 lockdowns in Italy to identify changes in consumption patterns for a variety of foods and drinks that are potentially associated with psychological discomfort.
If you are interested in attending the session, please contact Allison Ware in the AAEA Business Office.
ABOUT AAEA: Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes three journals, the Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (an open access journal), the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices and the online open access publication series Applied Economics Teaching Resources. To learn more, visit www.aaea.org.
Contact: Allison Ware
Senior Communications & Membership Manager
(414) 918-3190
Email: aware@aaea.org