Changes in household diet: Determinants and predictability

Stefan Hut and Emily Oster

Journal of Public Economics, 2022, vol. 208, issue C

Abstract: We use grocery purchase data to analyze dietary changes. We show that dietary change is unusual, even in response to significant disease diagnosis or changes in household circumstances. We then identify a small subset of households which show significant dietary changes (either improvements or worsened diet). We use machine learning to predict these households and find dietary concentration is a significant predictor of change. Households tend to change a small subset of food items at a time, suggesting dietary recommendations might be better focused on making smaller, simpler changes rather than broader diet alterations.

Keywords: Dietary choice; Health; Applied microeconomics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 H31 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:208:y:2022:i:c:s0047272722000226

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104620

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