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Changes in household diet: Determinants and predictability

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  • Hut, Stefan
  • Oster, Emily

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Hut, Stefan & Oster, Emily, 2022. "Changes in household diet: Determinants and predictability," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:208:y:2022:i:c:s0047272722000226
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104620
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    7. Rosa Ferrer & Helena Perrone, 2023. "Consumers’ Costly Responses to Product-Harm Crises," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(5), pages 2639-2671, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dietary choice; Health; Applied microeconomics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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