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Time Preference and Food Nutrition Information Search: Evidence from 1220 Chinese Consumers

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  • Guan, L.
  • Jin, S.
  • Huang, Z.

Abstract

Time preference has been recognized by numerous studies as an important driver of a number of health-related behaviors such as fatness, smoking and food choices. However, its possible role in food nutrition information search has been widely neglected. This study aims to examine directly if food nutrition information search is associated with the behavioral inclinations in time preference in China. Based on theoretical analysis, this paper illustrated that individuals with lower time preference stress more on future utility and tend to search more nutrition information. In empirical investigation, time preference was elicited in two ways: psychological perspective and monetary perspective. Data for the analysis were collected in 10 cities of 5 provinces in China through face-to-face interviews on sample of 1220 Chinese consumers undertaken in 2016. In the psychological perspective, this paper found that future-oriented (low time preference) individuals were more likely to search food nutrition information both in nutrition facts panels and nutrition claims. In monetary perspective, this paper found that only time-consistent long-run patience had a weak impact on food nutrition information search. Different significance between monetary and psychological health domain results confirmed the existence of domain independence. Acknowledgement : The authors would like to thank research assistant Haiyue Guo, Yue Jin, Changhua Qian, Rao Yuan, Zhanyi Shi, Yu Jiang for their helpful support. We gratefully acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC-71273233, 71333011) and the Major Program of the Key Research Institute of Chinese Ministry of Education (No. 15JJD790032).

Suggested Citation

  • Guan, L. & Jin, S. & Huang, Z., 2018. "Time Preference and Food Nutrition Information Search: Evidence from 1220 Chinese Consumers," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277205, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae18:277205
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.277205
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