Obesity and Price Sensitivity at the Supermarket

Neil Gandal and Anastasia Shabelansky

No 7443, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: In this paper, we employ a rich data set at the individual level in order to examine which factors are most highly correlated with obesity. Our main result is that, even after controlling for income levels and other factors, we find that high 'price-sensitivity' for food products is associated with high obesity rates. We find that a woman who stated that prices were 'not important at all' when purchasing food products had a Body Mass Index (BMI) that was 1.3 units below those who stated that price was 'very important.' This suggests that the price effect is not trivial and obesity is a problem that is not limited to those with low income levels. A 1.3 unit reduction in the BMI would move approximately 28% of women who are in the 'overweight' category to the 'normal weight' category and 25% of women who are in the 'obese' category to the 'overweight' category.

Keywords: Obesity; Price sensitivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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