A new year, a new you? Heterogeneity and self-control in food purchases

Rachel Griffith, Martin O'Connell, Kate Smith, Laurens Cherchye, Bram De Rock and Frederic Vermeulen

No 12499, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We document considerable within-person (over time) variation in diet quality that is not fully explained by responses to fluctuations in the economic environment. We propose a two-selves model that provides a structural interpretation to this variation, in which food choices are a compromise between a healthy and an unhealthy self, each with well-behaved preferences. We show that the data are consistent with this model using revealed preference methods. The extent of self-control problems is higher among younger and lower income consumers, though this is overstated if we do not control for responses to fluctuations in the economic environment. Our results are intuitively related to stated attitudes on self-control.

Keywords: Two-selves model; Self-control; Revealed preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C14 D12 D90 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-mac
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Working Paper: A New Year, a New You ?Heterogeneity and Self-control in Food Purchases (2017)
Working Paper: A new year, a new you? Heterogeneity and self-control in food purchases (2017)
Working Paper: A New Year, a New You? Heterogeneity and Self-Control in Food Purchases (2017)
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