IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/25225.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Behavioral Feedback: Do Individual Choices Influence Scientific Results?

Author

Listed:
  • Emily Oster

Abstract

In many health domains, we are concerned that observed links - for example, between “healthy” behaviors and good outcomes - are driven by selection into behavior. This paper considers the additional factor that these selection patterns may vary over time. When a particular health behavior becomes more recommended, the take-up of the behavior may be larger among people with other positive health behaviors. Such changes in selection would make it even more difficult to learn about causal effects. I formalize this change in selection in a simple model. I test for evidence of these patterns in the context of diet and vitamin supplementation. Using both microdata and evidence from published results I show that selection varies over time with recommendations about behavior and that estimates of the relationship between health outcomes and health behaviors vary over time in the same way. I show that adjustment for selection on observables is insufficient to address the bias. I suggest a possible robustness approach relying on assumptions about proportional selection of observed and unobserved variables.

Suggested Citation

  • Emily Oster, 2018. "Behavioral Feedback: Do Individual Choices Influence Scientific Results?," NBER Working Papers 25225, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25225
    Note: EH
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w25225.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    2. Bikhchandani, Sushil & Hirshleifer, David & Welch, Ivo, 1992. "A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change in Informational Cascades," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(5), pages 992-1026, October.
    3. Ippolito, Pauline M & Mathios, Alan D, 1995. "Information and Advertising: The Case of Fat Consumption in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 91-95, May.
    4. 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.
    5. Liran Einav & Ephraim Leibtag & Aviv Nevo, 2010. "Recording discrepancies in Nielsen Homescan data: Are they present and do they matter?," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 207-239, June.
    6. 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.
    7. Zhuan Pei & Jörn-Steffen Pischke & Hannes Schwandt, 2019. "Poorly Measured Confounders are More Useful on the Left than on the Right," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 205-216, April.
    8. 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.
    9. Jutta Roosen & Stéphan Marette & Sandrine Blanchemanche & Philippe Verger, 2009. "Does Health Information Matter for Modifying Consumption? A Field Experiment Measuring the Impact of Risk Information on Fish Consumption," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 31(1), pages 2-20.
    10. 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)

    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. Emily Oster, 2020. "Health Recommendations and Selection in Health Behaviors," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 143-160, June.
    2. Moon, Wanki & Balasubramanian, Siva K. & Rimal, Arbindra, 2011. "Health claims and consumers' behavioral intentions: The case of soy-based food," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 480-489, August.
    3. 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.
    4. Gaggero, A. & Gil, J. & Jiménez-Rubio, D. & Zucchelli, E., 2021. "Health information and lifestyle behaviours: the impact of a diabetes diagnosis," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 21/02, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    5. Luciana Juvenal & Paulo Santos Monteiro, 2024. "Risky Gravity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(4), pages 1590-1627.
    6. Bo Xiong & Daniel Sumner & William Matthews, 2014. "A new market for an old food: the U.S. demand for olive oil," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(S1), pages 107-118, November.
    7. 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).
    8. Aldrich, Lorna, 1999. "Consumer Use of Information: Implications for Food Policy," Miscellaneous Publications 330083, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    9. Yen, Steven T. & Lin, Biing-Hwan & Davis, Christopher G., 2008. "Consumer knowledge and meat consumption at home and away from home," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 631-639, December.
    10. Mancino, Lisa & Kuchler, Fred & Leibtag, Ephraim, 2008. "Getting consumers to eat more whole-grains: The role of policy, information, and food manufacturers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 489-496, December.
    11. 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.
    12. Moon, Wanki, 2002. "Estimating The Effect Of Health Knowledge In The Consumption Of Soy-Based Foods," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19681, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Gaggero, Alessio & Gil, Joan & Jiménez-Rubio, Dolores & Zucchelli, Eugenio, 2022. "Does health information affect lifestyle behaviours? The impact of a diabetes diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    14. Rimal, Arbindra & Balasubramanian, Siva K. & Moon, Wanki, 2004. "Two-Stage Decision Model Of Soy Food Consumption Behavior," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20096, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    15. Murali Adhikari & Laxmi Paudel & Krishna Paudel & Jack Houston & James Bukenya, 2007. "Impact of low carbohydrate information on vegetable demands in the United States," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(13), pages 939-944.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. Herrmann, Roland & Roeder, Claudia, 1998. "Some neglected issues in food demand analysis: retail-level demand, health information and product quality," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 42(4), pages 1-27.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C18 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Methodolical Issues: General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    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:nbr:nberwo:25225. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.