IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/jlaare/8602.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health Information Availability and the Consumption of Eggs: Are Consumers Bayesians?

Author

Listed:
  • Chang, Hung-Hao
  • Just, David R.

Abstract

This study uses a generalized Bayesian updating model to estimate the impact of health information appearing in the popular media on the consumption of eggs. The framework permits us to explore the possible effects of several known psychological biases in learning. Generalized Bayesian learning allows media publications to have a decaying effect on behavior. Our primary finding is that health information has a significant impact on U.S. egg consumption. Furthermore, the reaction to health information is found to be temporary. Health information will, on average, decay to a point of unimportance in a matter of a few weeks without a constant and consistent stream of confirming information.

Suggested Citation

  • Chang, Hung-Hao & Just, David R., 2007. "Health Information Availability and the Consumption of Eggs: Are Consumers Bayesians?," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 32(1), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:jlaare:8602
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.8602
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/8602/files/32010077.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.8602?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Asp, Elaine H., 1999. "Factors affecting food decisions made by individual consumers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2-3), pages 287-294, May.
    2. Rabin, Matthew, 2002. "A perspective on psychology and economics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 657-685, May.
    3. McGuirk, Anya M. & Driscoll, Paul J. & Alwang, Jeffrey Roger & Huang, Huilin, 1995. "System Misspecification Testing And Structural Change In The Demand For Meats," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 20(1), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Boetel, Brenda L. & Liu, Donald J., 2002. "Disentangling The Effects Of Generic Advertisement From Health Information Within A Meat Demand System," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19813, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Kyrre Rickertsen & Dadi Kristofersson & Solveig Lothe, 2003. "Effects of health information on Nordic meat and fish demand," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 249-273, April.
    6. Capps, Oral & Park, Jaehong, 2002. "Impacts of Advertising, Attitudes, Lifestyles, and Health on the Demand for U.S. Pork: A Micro-Level Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(1), pages 1-15, April.
    7. Chern, Wen S & Loehman, Edna T & Yen, Steven T, 1995. "Information, Health Risk Beliefs, and the Demand for Fats and Oils," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 77(3), pages 555-564, August.
    8. Schmit, Todd M. & Kaiser, Harry M., 1998. "Egg Advertising, Dietary Cholesterol Concerns, and U.S. Consumer Demand," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(1), pages 43-52, April.
    9. Kinnucan, Henry W. & Chang, Hui-Shung (Christie) & Venkateswaran, Meenakshi, 1993. "Generic Advertising Wearout," Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 61(03), pages 1-15, December.
    10. Capps, Oral, Jr. & Schmitz, John D., 1991. "A Recognition Of Health And Nutrition Factors In Food Demand Analysis," Western Journal of Agricultural Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, July.
    11. David M. Grether, 1980. "Bayes Rule as a Descriptive Model: The Representativeness Heuristic," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 95(3), pages 537-557.
    12. John D. Jackson, 1997. "Effects of Health Information and Generic Advertising on U.S. Meat Demand," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(1), pages 13-23.
    13. B. Wade Brorsen & Warren R. Grant & M. Edward Rister, 1984. "A Hedonic Price Model for Rough Rice Bid/Acceptance Markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 66(2), pages 156-163.
    14. Deborah J. Brown & Lee F. Schrader, 1990. "Cholesterol Information and Shell Egg Consumption," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 72(3), pages 548-555.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Knutson, Ronald D. & Currier, Russell W. & Ribera, Luis A. & Goeringer, L. Paul, 2010. "Asymmetry In Raw Milk Safety Perceptions And Information: Implications For Risk In Fresh Produce Marketing And Policy," 115th Joint EAAE/AAEA Seminar, September 15-17, 2010, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany 116440, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Xiang Bi & Lisa House & Zhifeng Gao, 2016. "Impacts of Nutrition Information on Choices of Fresh Seafood Among Parents," Marine Resource Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(3), pages 355-372.
    3. Just, David R., 2006. "Behavioral Economics, Food Assistance, and Obesity," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(2), pages 209-220, October.
    4. Bi, Xiang & House, Lisa & Gao, Zhifeng, 2014. "Can Nutrition and Health Information Increase Demand for Seafood among Parents? Evidence from a Choice Experiment," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170266, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Emily Oster, 2020. "Health Recommendations and Selection in Health Behaviors," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 143-160, June.
    6. Hailu, Getu & Goddard, Ellen W., 2010. "The changing egg demand in Canada: do advertising and health message contents matter?," 115th Joint EAAE/AAEA Seminar, September 15-17, 2010, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany 116427, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Emily Oster, 2018. "Behavioral Feedback: Do Individual Choices Influence Scientific Results?," NBER Working Papers 25225, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paudel, Laxmi & Adhikari, Murali & Houston, Jack E., 2005. "Assessing the Impacts of Low Carbohydrate Related Health Information on the Market Demand for US Vegetables," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19541, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    2. Thomas Marsh & Ted Schroeder & James Mintert, 2004. "Impacts of meat product recalls on consumer demand in the USA," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(9), pages 897-909.
    3. Schroeter, Christiane & Foster, Kenneth A., 2004. "The Impact Of Health Information And Demographic Changes On Aggregate Meat Demand," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20130, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    4. Moon, Wanki & Ward, Ronald W., 1999. "Effects Of Health Concerns And Consumer Characteristics On U.S. Meat Consumption," 1999 Annual meeting, August 8-11, Nashville, TN 21682, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Adhikari, Murali & Paudel, Laxmi & Houston, Jack E. & Paudel, Krishna P. & Bukenya, James O., 2006. "The Impact of Cholesterol Information on Meat Demand: Application of an Updated Cholesterol Index," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 37(2), pages 1-10, July.
    6. Padilla, Luis & Acharya, Ram N., 2000. "Effects Of Health Information On Fruit And Vegetable Consumption," 2000 Annual meeting, July 30-August 2, Tampa, FL 21742, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    7. Beatrice D. Simo-Kengne & Johane Dikgang & Sunita Prugsamatz Ofstad, 2018. "Effect of marine protected areas and macroeconomic environment on meat consumption in SEAFO countries," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Wildner, S. & Cramon-Taubadel, S.v., 2000. "Die Bedeutung von Veränderungen der Nachfrage für die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des Agrarsektors: erste Ergebnisse einer neuen Nachfrageschätzung," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 36.
    9. Yadavalli, Anita & Jones, Keithly, 2014. "Does media influence consumer demand? The case of lean finely textured beef in the United States," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P1), pages 219-227.
    10. Getu Hailu & John Cranfield & Rawlin Thangaraj, 2010. "Do U.S. food processors respond to sweetener-related health information?," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 348-368.
    11. Okrent, Abigail M. & Alston, Julian M., 2011. "Demand for Food in the United States: A Review of Literature, Evaluation of Previous Estimates, and Presentation of New Estimates of Demand," Monographs, University of California, Davis, Giannini Foundation, number 251908, December.
    12. Binkley, James K. & Eales, James S., 2000. "Demand For High Fiber And Low Fiber Cereals," 2000 Annual meeting, July 30-August 2, Tampa, FL 21826, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Lusk, Jayson L. & Tonsor, Glynn T. & Schroeder, Ted C. & Hayes, Dermot J., 2018. "Effect of government quality grade labels on consumer demand for pork chops in the short and long run," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 91-102.
    14. Kent D. Messer & Todd M. Schmit & Harry M. Kaiser, 2005. "Optimal Institutional Mechanisms for Funding Generic Advertising: An Experimental Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(4), pages 1046-1060.
    15. Luke, Jaime R. & Tonsor, Glynn T. & Brown, D. Scott, 2024. "Wholesale pork demand: Understanding primal-level heterogeneity," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    16. Lin, Biing-Hwan & Yen, Steven T., 2005. "Consumer Knowledge, Food Label Use and Grain Consumption," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19557, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    17. Shimshack, Jay P. & Ward, Michael B., 2010. "Mercury advisories and household health trade-offs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 674-685, September.
    18. Chen Zhen & Michael K. Wohlgenant, 2006. "Meat Demand under Rational Habit Persistence," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 54(4), pages 477-495, December.
    19. Yeboah, Godfred & Maynard, Leigh J., 2004. "The Impact Of Bse, Fmd, And U.S. Export Promotion Expenditures On Japanese Meat Demand," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 19978, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    20. Flake, Oliver L. & Patterson, Paul M., 1999. "Health, Food Safety And Meat Demand," 1999 Annual meeting, August 8-11, Nashville, TN 21648, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:jlaare:8602. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/waeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.