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Do You Want Fries with That? An Exploration of Serving Size, Social Welfare, and Our Waistlines

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Author Info
Thomas D. Jeitschko
Rowena A. Pecchenino

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Abstract

Given increasing obesity rates, fingers are often pointed at "big food" and their marketing practices. Restaurant meals are indeed larger than home-cooked meals, and portion sizes have increased. We consider constrained "socially optimal"--rather than decentralized profit-maximizing--portions to see whether welfare maximizing strategies may also be waistline-increasing. We demonstrate that socially optimal restaurant meals are larger than average home-cooked meals, yet the choice to "super-size" alleviates the size discrepancy. Moreover, 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. (JEL I10, D11) Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ei/cbj036
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Oxford University Press in its journal Economic Inquiry.

Volume (Year): 44 (2006)
Issue (Month): 3 (July)
Pages: 442-450
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Handle: RePEc:oup:ecinqu:v:44:y:2006:i:3:p:442-450

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory

Cited by:
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  1. Heather Bednarek & Thomas Jeitschko & Rowena Pecchenino, 2006. "Gluttony and Sloth: Symptoms of Trouble or Signs of Bliss? A Theory of Choice in the Presence of Behavioral Adjustment Costs," Contributions to Economic Analysis & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 5(1), pages 1507-1507. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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This page was last updated on 2009-1-4.

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