THE PRICE OF ONE SWEET CALORIE

We propose a new measure for food prices to further examine the impact of changes in food prices and real income on individuals’ eating decisions and weight. We calculate price per calorie for food consumed away from home and food consumed at home as the dollar amount spent by households on each...

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Main Authors: Sebastien Buttet, Veronika Dolar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics 2015-10-01
Series:International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.foodandagriculturejournal.com/vol3.no4.pp1.pdf
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author Sebastien Buttet
Veronika Dolar
author_facet Sebastien Buttet
Veronika Dolar
author_sort Sebastien Buttet
collection DOAJ
description We propose a new measure for food prices to further examine the impact of changes in food prices and real income on individuals’ eating decisions and weight. We calculate price per calorie for food consumed away from home and food consumed at home as the dollar amount spent by households on each food category divided by the number of calories consumed. We use our newly constructed time series for price per calorie as an input into a neoclassical model of eating decisions and weight. Our goal is to propose a quantitative explanation for the increase in calories consumed away from home as well as changes in weight for men and women 1971 and 2006. We find that prices determine the allocation of calories across food types, while income determines the total number of calories consumed and thus individuals' weight. Based on our results, we share the view that taxes on food will impact what people eat but will have limited effect on reducing the population body-mass index or the obesity prevalence
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spelling doaj.art-d47e7a24686a499dbd0389344dd4fa912023-02-15T16:16:27ZengInternational Journal of Food and Agricultural EconomicsInternational Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics2147-89882147-89882015-10-0134114THE PRICE OF ONE SWEET CALORIESebastien Buttet0Veronika Dolar1Business Administration Division, Guttman CC, City University of New York, USAEconomics Department, Long Island University, Brookville, NY 11548, USAWe propose a new measure for food prices to further examine the impact of changes in food prices and real income on individuals’ eating decisions and weight. We calculate price per calorie for food consumed away from home and food consumed at home as the dollar amount spent by households on each food category divided by the number of calories consumed. We use our newly constructed time series for price per calorie as an input into a neoclassical model of eating decisions and weight. Our goal is to propose a quantitative explanation for the increase in calories consumed away from home as well as changes in weight for men and women 1971 and 2006. We find that prices determine the allocation of calories across food types, while income determines the total number of calories consumed and thus individuals' weight. Based on our results, we share the view that taxes on food will impact what people eat but will have limited effect on reducing the population body-mass index or the obesity prevalencehttp://www.foodandagriculturejournal.com/vol3.no4.pp1.pdfObesitybody weightfood priceshousehold income
spellingShingle Sebastien Buttet
Veronika Dolar
THE PRICE OF ONE SWEET CALORIE
International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics
Obesity
body weight
food prices
household income
title THE PRICE OF ONE SWEET CALORIE
title_full THE PRICE OF ONE SWEET CALORIE
title_fullStr THE PRICE OF ONE SWEET CALORIE
title_full_unstemmed THE PRICE OF ONE SWEET CALORIE
title_short THE PRICE OF ONE SWEET CALORIE
title_sort price of one sweet calorie
topic Obesity
body weight
food prices
household income
url http://www.foodandagriculturejournal.com/vol3.no4.pp1.pdf
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