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Appealing to generosity to reduce food calorie intake: A natural field experiment

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  • Kee, Jennifer
  • Segovia, Michelle S.
  • Saboury, Piruz
  • Palma, Marco A.

Abstract

We conduct a natural field experiment where we exogenously manipulate a restaurant’s menu to include a third party charitable donation to a hunger-related charity when customers select a smaller food portion. We find that generosity is an effective instrument for motivating individuals to reduce their food portion size selection, particularly among Overweight/Obese individuals. Overweight/obese individuals are 35 percentage points more likely to choose the smaller portion when it carries a donation. When the donation is combined with a health information nudge, the proportion of smaller portion choices among overweight/obese individuals increases by 48.2 percentage points compared to the baseline.

Suggested Citation

  • Kee, Jennifer & Segovia, Michelle S. & Saboury, Piruz & Palma, Marco A., 2022. "Appealing to generosity to reduce food calorie intake: A natural field experiment," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:110:y:2022:i:c:s0306919222000549
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2022.102274
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Charity; Food choice; Generosity; Health; Hunger; Weight status;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management

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