IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/apecpp/v42y2020i4p870-887.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of NuVal Shelf Nutrition Labels on Food Purchase

Author

Listed:
  • Chen Zhen
  • Xiaoyong Zheng

Abstract

Summary shelf nutrition labels are one of a handful of practical strategies that hold the promise of improving nutrition and public health. We use a difference‐in‐differences approach to estimate the effect of the NuVal shelf label—an interpretive numeric score, now defunct, that rated the overall nutrition of foods from one (least healthful) to 100 (most healthful)—on consumer demand for yogurt. The results indicate that NuVal labels affected product sales through an information provision effect that increases with the value of the nutrition score on the product and a publicity (i.e., salience) effect that is unrelated to the level of the score. A one‐point increase in NuVal score on a yogurt product is estimated to increase demand by 0.23%.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen Zhen & Xiaoyong Zheng, 2020. "The Impact of NuVal Shelf Nutrition Labels on Food Purchase," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(4), pages 870-887, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:apecpp:v:42:y:2020:i:4:p:870-887
    DOI: 10.1093/aepp/ppz015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/aepp/ppz015
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1093/aepp/ppz015?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hilary W. Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2009. "Consumption Responses to In-Kind Transfers: Evidence from the Introduction of the Food Stamp Program," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 109-139, October.
    2. Grossman, Sanford J, 1981. "The Informational Role of Warranties and Private Disclosure about Product Quality," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 461-483, December.
    3. Igal Hendel & Aviv Nevo, 2013. "Intertemporal Price Discrimination in Storable Goods Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(7), pages 2722-2751, December.
    4. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    5. Mario F. Teisl & Nancy E. Bockstael & Alan Levy, 2001. "Measuring the Welfare Effects of Nutrition Information," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(1), pages 133-149.
    6. Paul R. Milgrom, 1981. "Good News and Bad News: Representation Theorems and Applications," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(2), pages 380-391, Autumn.
    7. Todd, Jessica E. & Variyam, Jayachandran N., 2008. "The Decline in Consumer Use of Food Nutrition Labels, 1995-2006," Economic Research Report 56466, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    8. Jayson L Lusk & Jill McCluskey, 2018. "Understanding the Impacts of Food Consumer Choice and Food Policy Outcomes," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 40(1), pages 5-21.
    9. Daron Acemoglu & David H. Autor & David Lyle, 2004. "Women, War, and Wages: The Effect of Female Labor Supply on the Wage Structure at Midcentury," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(3), pages 497-551, June.
    10. Rahkovsky, Ilya & Lin, Biing-Hwan & Lin, Chung-Tung Jordan & Lee, Jonq-Ying, 2013. "Effects of the Guiding Stars Program on purchases of ready-to-eat cereals with different nutritional attributes," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 100-107.
    11. Mathios, Alan D, 2000. "The Impact of Mandatory Disclosure Laws on Product Choices: An Analysis of the Salad Dressing Market," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(2), pages 651-677, October.
    12. Jean‐Pierre Dubé & Günter J. Hitsch & Peter E. Rossi, 2010. "State dependence and alternative explanations for consumer inertia," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(3), pages 417-445, September.
    13. Michael J. Fishman & Kathleen M. Hagerty, 2003. "Mandatory Versus Voluntary Disclosure in Markets with Informed and Uninformed Customers," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 45-63, April.
    14. Li, Wenying & Zhen, Chen & Finkelstein, Eric, 2017. "Identifying the Effect of Shelf Nutrition Labels on Yogurt Sales Using a Natural Experiment," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258111, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    15. Guido W. Imbens, 2004. "Nonparametric Estimation of Average Treatment Effects Under Exogeneity: A Review," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 4-29, February.
    16. Steven Shavell, 1994. "Acquisition and Disclosure of Information Prior to Sale," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(1), pages 20-36, Spring.
    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. Wenying Li & Eric Andrew Finkelstein & Chen Zhen, 2022. "Intended and unintended consequences of salient nutrition labels," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(2), pages 853-872, March.
    2. Henry Wolgast & McKenna M. Halverson & Nicole Kennedy & Isabel Gallard & Allison Karpyn, 2022. "Encouraging Healthier Food and Beverage Purchasing and Consumption: A Review of Interventions within Grocery Retail Settings," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-17, December.

    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. Tianle Song, 2022. "Quality Disclosure and Product Selection," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(2), pages 323-346, June.
    2. Oliver Board, 2009. "Competition And Disclosure," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 197-213, March.
    3. Ting Liu & Monic Jiayin Sun, 2007. "Informal Payments in Developing Countries' Public Health Sectors¤," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2007-032, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    4. Schmitt, Stefanie Y. & Bruckner, Dominik, 2023. "Unaware consumers and disclosure of deficiencies," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1018-1042.
    5. V. Joseph Hotz & Mo Xiao, 2013. "Strategic Information Disclosure: The Case Of Multiattribute Products With Heterogeneous Consumers," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 865-881, January.
    6. Liang Guo & Ying Zhao, 2009. "Voluntary Quality Disclosure and Market Interaction," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(3), pages 488-501, 05-06.
    7. Stacie A. Bosley & Sarah Greenman & Samantha Snyder, 2020. "Voluntary Disclosure And Earnings Expectations In Multi‐Level Marketing," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(4), pages 1643-1662, October.
    8. Liang Guo, 2020. "Upstream Exploitation and Strategic Disclosure," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(5), pages 923-938, September.
    9. Alexander L. Brown & Colin F. Camerer & Dan Lovallo, 2012. "To Review or Not to Review? Limited Strategic Thinking at the Movie Box Office," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 1-26, May.
    10. Liang Guo, 2021. "Partial Unraveling and Strategic Contract Timing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(12), pages 7719-7736, December.
    11. Andrew F. Daughety & Jennifer F. Reinganum, 2008. "Products Liability, Signaling and Disclosure," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 164(1), pages 106-126, March.
    12. Zhao, Ming & Dong, Ciwei & Cheng, T.C.E., 2018. "Quality disclosure strategies for small business enterprises in a competitive marketplace," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(1), pages 218-229.
    13. A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell, 2012. "Mandatory Versus Voluntary Disclosure of Product Risks," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 28(2), pages 360-379.
    14. Kiesel, Kristin & Villas-Boas, Sofia B., 2013. "Can information costs affect consumer choice? Nutritional labels in a supermarket experiment," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 153-163.
    15. Tom Lane & Minghai Zhou, 2022. "Failure of unravelling theory? A natural field experiment on voluntary quality disclosure," Discussion Papers 2022-17, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    16. Hirshleifer, David & Lim, Seongyeon & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2004. "Disclosure to an Audience with Limited Attention," Working Paper Series 2004-21, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    17. Vincze, János, 2010. "Miért és mitől védjük a fogyasztókat?. Aszimmetrikus információ és/vagy korlátozott racionalitás [Asymmetric information and/or bounded rationality: why are consumers protected and from what?]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(9), pages 725-752.
    18. Benito Arruñada, 2011. "Mandatory accounting disclosure by small private companies," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 377-413, December.
    19. Huan Cao & Xu Guan & Tijun Fan & Li Zhou, 2020. "The Acquisition of Quality Information in a Supply Chain with Voluntary vs. Mandatory Disclosure," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(3), pages 595-616, March.
    20. Harbaugh, Richmond & To, Theodore, 2020. "False modesty: When disclosing good news looks bad," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 43-55.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:apecpp:v:42:y:2020:i:4:p:870-887. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2040-5804 .

    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.