Food Store Density, Nutrition Education, Eating Habits and Obesity

Alessandro Bonanno and Stephan Goetz

International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, 2012, vol. 15, issue 4, 26

Abstract: Food retailers and restaurants are under scrutiny for their alleged effects on diets and obesity, although no clear evidence of a causal relationship exists. Furthermore, because no prior study controls for nutrition education and the dynamic nature of the underlying phenomena, existing estimates quantifying these relationships could be biased. Using state-level data for the continental U.S. we evaluate how the density of different food stores and per-capita expenditures on SNAP (nutrition) Education impact eating habits and (indirectly) adult obesity, controlling for endogeneity of store locations and consumption dynamics. Our results caution against using large-scale policies regulating the food environment and highlight the need to control for nutrition education and process dynamics to obtain unbiased estimates. Implications for the agribusiness sector are discussed.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Consumer/Household Economics; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Health Economics and Policy; Institutional and Behavioral Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:ifaamr:138317

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.138317

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