Jeitschko, Thomas D. and Pecchenino, Rowena A. (2007) Do you want fries with that? An exploration of serving size, social welfare, and our waistlines. Economic Inquiry, 44 (3). pp. 442-450. ISSN 0095-2583
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Abstract
In the debate over increasing obesity rates, fingers are often pointed at "big food" and their marketing practices. It is noted that restaurant meals are often larger than home-cooked meals and that portion sizes in restaurants have dramatically increased over the past few years. We investigate the issue by considering "socially optimal" -- rather than decentralized profit maximizing -- portions in restaurants to see whether welfare maximizing strategies may also be waistline-increasing. We demonstrate that "socially optimal" restaurant meals are larger in size than average home-cooked meals and, while many agents chose to "super-size", the option of super-sizing actually alleviates the size discrepancy between home-cooked and restaurant meals. Moreover, "socially optimal" portion sizes at home and in restaurants increase with relative reductions in the marginal costs and/or relative increases in the fixed costs of meal preparation. Given this cost structure, when offered fries a greater proportion of the population will answer with an enthusiastic "yes"!
Item Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | Preprint version of original published article. The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com (DOI: 10.1093/ei/cbj036) |
Keywords: | obesity; serving size; social welfare; public health policy; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Science and Engineering Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics, Finance and Accounting |
Item ID: | 2800 |
Identification Number: | DOI: 10.1093/ei/cbj036 |
Depositing User: | Prof. Rowena Pecchenino |
Date Deposited: | 26 Oct 2011 14:37 |
Journal or Publication Title: | Economic Inquiry |
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell |
Refereed: | No |
Related URLs: | |
URI: | https://mu.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/2800 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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