Performing Department
Dept: Resource Economics
Non Technical Summary
Improvements in diet quality can be achieved by a combination of more nutritious products (i.e. reformulation) and healthier consumer choices. Although product reformulations have been at the forefront of policy discussions and have often been voluntarily adopted by firms, there have been scant efforts to quantify them and analyze their effects. We propose to study food reformulation and several of its economic and policy implications in the U.S. A key component of the proposal is the assembly of a large dataset documenting product reformulations over the last seventeen years and across all regions of the U.S. The assembled dataset will be used to: a) quantify and document the major product and nutrient reformulations in the U.S., b) document and investigate potential dietary and nutritional disparities across subpopulations, c) investigate potential policy-induced causes of product reformulations and of changes in consumer behavior and health outcomes, and d) develop a theoretical oligopoly model for manufacturers and test its predictions on the observed levels of reformulation. Our results will be useful for policy makers in the ongoing debate as to how more effectively improve diet quality and reduce disparities in nutritional intake and health. In particular, the results will point towards areas in which reformulation vis-à-vis improvements in consumer choices may be a more effective policy tool (or vice versa).
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The overarching goal of this proposal is to study reformulation and consumer choices in the packaged food industry in the U.S. and their implications for diet disparities and health outcomes. To accomplish this goal, we formulate objectives along the four areas discussed in the Introduction section.1. Construct a comprehensive purchase, nutrient, and health dataset, and identify major reformulations in consumer-packaged goods.(a)Merge barcode-level nutrition data to household data on purchases and health.(b)Identify nutrients and product categories that underwent major reformulations.2. Document and investigate potential dietary and nutritional disparities across subpopulations.(a) Use the dataset constructed in (1) to examine how diet quality and nutritional components change over time for a wide range of data subsamples, including those based on income, race, ethnicity, presence of children, and rurality.(b) Document any potential dietary or nutrition disparities across subsamples.(c) Document the extent of product reformulations across food retailing channels (including dollar stores, convenience stores, and more traditional food retailers).(d) Investigate whether dietary disparities across subpopulations are linked to the potential asymmetric impact of product reformulations on food-retailing channels and consumers' food environments.3. Investigate potential policy-induced causes of product reformulations and of changes in consumer behavior and health outcomes.(a) Conduct an event study examining the effect of the FDA rulings on trans fats on product reformulations, consumer behavior and health outcomes.(b) Conduct an event study examining the effect of the FDA added sugar mandate on product reformulations, consumer behavior and health outcomes.4. Develop a theoretical oligopoly model for manufacturers and test its predictions on the observed levels of reformulation
Project Methods
1. Data assembly: we will merge scanner databases and nutrition databases at a granual (barcode) level. The process will rely on both manual as well as automated (big data) processes.2. Econometric analyses: will be used to study quantify the role of reformulation in improving diets as well as measurements of the effects of such reformulations on health outcomes.3. Writing of manuscripts: will consist in synthesizing the research questions, data assembly, and econometric results for both academic and non-academic audiences