IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/foi/wpaper/2016_01.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Consumer valuation of health attributes in food

Author

Listed:
  • Sinne Smed

    (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen)

  • Lars Gårn Hansen

    (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen)

Abstract

Numerous studies find that education and the healthiness of diets are highly correlated. One possible explanation is that the most highly educated consumers are better at understanding and appreciating the health implications of their diet than consumers with less lower education. In this study, we estimate a hedonic model of consumers’ valuation of food characteristics that allows nutrients to influence utility both through their perceived effects on health and through their effects on the taste and consumption experience. We find that the most highly educated have the same or lower revealed preferences for health compared to the least educated, and we find that it is differences in taste preferences, not differences in health preferences, that explain why the most highly educated have a healthier diet.

Suggested Citation

  • Sinne Smed & Lars Gårn Hansen, 2016. "Consumer valuation of health attributes in food," IFRO Working Paper 2016/01, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:foi:wpaper:2016_01
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://okonomi.foi.dk/workingpapers/WPpdf/WP2016/IFRO_WP_2016_01.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brester, Gary W. & Lhermite, Pascale & Goodwin, Barry K. & Hunt, Melvin C., 1993. "Quantifying The Effects Of New Product Development: The Case Of Low-Fat Ground Beef," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Steven S. Vickner, 2015. "Estimating the Implicit Price of Convenience: A Hedonic Analysis of the US Breakfast Sausage Market," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 281-292, April.
    3. Unnevehr, Laurian J. & Bard, Sharon K., 1993. "Beef Quality: Will Consumers Pay For Less Fat?," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 18(2), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Ward, Clement E. & Lusk, Jayson L. & Dutton, Jennifer M., 2008. "Implicit Value of Retail Beef Product Attributes," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 33(3), pages 1-18.
    5. Chung L. Huang & Biing-Hwan Lin, 2007. "A Hedonic Analysis of Fresh Tomato Prices among Regional Markets," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 29(4), pages 783-800.
    6. Kenneth E. McConnell & Ivar E. Strand, 2000. "Hedonic Prices for Fish: Tuna Prices in Hawaii," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(1), pages 133-144.
    7. Adesoji O. Adelaja & Rodolfo M. Nayga & Tara C. Lauderbach, 1997. "Income and Racial Differentials in Selected Nutrient Intakes," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(5), pages 1452-1460.
    8. Brown, Jeff E. & Ethridge, Don E. & Hudson, Darren & Engels, Carlos, 1995. "An Automated Econometric Approach For Estimating And Reporting Daily Cotton Market Prices," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 27(2), pages 1-14, December.
    9. A. Golan & H. Shalit, 1993. "Wine Quality Differentials In Hedonic Grape Pricing," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 311-321, May.
    10. Dadi Kristofersson & Kyrre Rickertsen, 2004. "Efficient Estimation of Hedonic Inverse Input Demand Systems," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 86(4), pages 1127-1137.
    11. George W. Ladd & Marvin B. Martin, 1976. "Prices and Demands for Input Characteristics," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 58(1), pages 21-30.
    12. Richards Timothy J. & Mancino Lisa & Nganje William, 2012. "Nutrient Demand in Food Away from Home," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 1-31, April.
    13. Espinosa, Juan Andres & Goodwin, Barry K., 1991. "Hedonic Price Estimation For Kansas Wheat Characteristics," Western Journal of Agricultural Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, July.
    14. Waseem Ahmad & Sven Anders, 2012. "The Value of Brand and Convenience Attributes in Highly Processed Food Products," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 60(1), pages 113-133, March.
    15. Bierlen, Ralph & Grunewald, Orlen, 1995. "Price Incentives for Commercial Fresh Tomatoes," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(1), pages 138-148, July.
    16. Schulz, Lee L. & Schroeder, Ted C. & White, Katharine L., 2012. "Value of Beef Steak Branding: Hedonic Analysis of Retail Scanner Data," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 41(2), pages 1-14, August.
    17. Bierlen, Ralph W. & Grunewald, Orlen C., 1995. "Price Incentives For Commercial Fresh Tomatoes," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 27(1), pages 1-11, July.
    18. Ranney, Christine K. & McNamara, Paul E., 2002. "Do Healthier Diets Cost More?," Working Papers 127305, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    19. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb..
    20. Kelvin J. Lancaster, 1966. "A New Approach to Consumer Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74, pages 132-132.
    21. Drescher, Larissa & Thiele, Silke & Weiss, Christoph R., 2008. "The taste for variety: A hedonic analysis," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 66-68, October.
    22. Stanley, Linda R & Tschirhart, John, 1991. "Hedonic Prices for a Nondurable Good: The Case of Breakfast Cereals," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(3), pages 537-541, August.
    23. Tronstad, Russell & Huthoefer, Lori Stephens & Monke, Eric A., 1992. "Market Windows And Hedonic Price Analyses: An Application To The Apple Insdustry," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 17(2), pages 1-9, December.
    24. Morgan, Karen J & Metzen, Edward J & Johnson, S R, 1979. "An Hedonic Index for Breakfast Cereals," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 6(1), pages 67-75, June.
    25. Ladd, George W & Zober, Martin, 1977. "Model of Consumer Reaction to Product Characteristics," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 4(2), pages 89-101, Se.
    26. Shi, Hongqi & Price, David W., 1998. "Impacts Of Sociodemographic Variables On The Implicit Values Of Breakfast Cereal Characteristics," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 23(1), pages 1-14, July.
    27. Mackenbach, Johan P., 2012. "The persistence of health inequalities in modern welfare states: The explanation of a paradox," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(4), pages 761-769.
    28. George W. Ladd & Veraphol Suvannunt, 1976. "A Model of Consumer Goods Characteristics," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 58(3), pages 504-510.
    29. William J. Gillmeister & Robert D. Yonkers & James W. Dunn, 1996. "Hedonic Pricing of Milk Components at the Farm Level," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 18(2), pages 181-192.
    30. Domenico Carlucci & Antonio Stasi & Gianluca Nardone & Antonio Seccia, 2013. "Explaining Price Variability in the Italian Yogurt Market: A Hedonic Analysis," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 194-206, March.
    31. Hoffmann, Rasmus, 2011. "Socioeconomic inequalities in old-age mortality: A comparison of Denmark and the USA," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(12), pages 1986-1992, June.
    32. John E. Lenz & Ron C. Mittelhammer & Hongqi Shi, 1994. "Retail-Level Hedonics and the Valuation of Milk Components," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(3), pages 492-503.
    33. Wilson, William W., 1984. "Hedonic Prices In The Malting Barley Market," Western Journal of Agricultural Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, July.
    34. Lucas, Robert E B, 1975. "Hedonic Price Functions," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 13(2), pages 157-178, June.
    35. Cropper, Maureen L & Deck, Leland B & McConnell, Kenneth E, 1988. "On the Choice of Functional Form for Hedonic Price Functions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(4), pages 668-675, November.
    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. Lionel Cosnard, 2019. "Taxing Sugar and Sugary Products to Reduce Obesity: A CGE Assessment of Several Tax Policies," Post-Print hal-03148821, HAL.
    2. Cosnard, Lionel & Laborde, David, 2019. "Taxing Sugar and Sugary Products to Reduce Obesity: A CGE Assessment of Several Tax Policies," Conference papers 333067, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.

    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. N. Koffi Amegbeto & Victor M. Manyong & Ousmane Coulibaly & Robert Asiedu, 2008. "Estimating market demand for fresh yam characteristics using contingent valuation: implications for crop breeding and production choices," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(3), pages 349-363, November.
    2. Hossain, Afjal & Badiuzzaman,, 2021. "Hedonic prices for the fruit market in Bangladesh: Lessons from guava and hog plum purchase decisions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Waseem AHMAD* & Tanvir AHMED** & Bashir AHMAD***, 2017. "HEDONIC PRICING OF MILK AT RETAIL LEVEL: A Case of Faisalabad, Pakistan," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Applied Economics Research Centre, vol. 27(1), pages 29-39.
    4. McVey, Marty Jay, 1996. "Valuing quality differentiated grains from a total logistics perspective," ISU General Staff Papers 1996010108000012326, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    5. Richards, Timothy J. & Jeffrey, Scott R., 1995. "Hedonic Pricing of Dairy Bulls - An Alternative Index of Genetic Merit," Project Report Series 24035, University of Alberta, Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology.
    6. Roberts, Shane & Brooks, Kathleen & Nogueira, Lia & Walters, Cory G., 2022. "The role of quality characteristics in pricing hard red winter wheat," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    7. Alessandro Bonanno, 2016. "A Hedonic Valuation of Health and Nonhealth Attributes in the U.S. Yogurt Market," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 299-313, July.
    8. Kolodinsky, Jane, 2008. "Affect or information? Labeling policy and consumer valuation of rBST free and organic characteristics of milk," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 616-623, December.
    9. Nolan, Elizabeth & Farrell, Terence & Ryan, Madeleine & Gibbon, Candice & Ahmadi-Esfahani, Fredoun Z., 2014. "Valuing quality attributes of Australian merino wool," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 58(3), July.
    10. Edward C. Jaenicke & Andrea C. Carlson, 2015. "Estimating and Investigating Organic Premiums for Retail‐Level Food Products," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 453-471, October.
    11. Thunström, Linda, 2009. "Consumer Values of Health-Related Food Symbols and Chemical Food Additives - The Case of Breakfast Cereals," HUI Working Papers 25, HUI Research.
    12. Hyberg, Bengt & Uri, Noel D. & Oliveira, Valencia, 1996. "The quality characteristics of Japanese soybean imports," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 81-98, March.
    13. Trestini, Samuele & Giampietri, Elisa & Szathvary, Serena & Dal Bianco, Andrea, 2018. "Insights on the Alleged Imitation of Prosecco Wine Name: The Case of the German Market," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 9(4), August.
    14. Kim, Changhee & Chung, Chanjin, 2011. "Hedonic Analysis of Retail Egg Prices Using Store Scanner Data: An Application to the Korean Egg Market," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 42(3), pages 1-14, November.
    15. Edmeades, Svetlana, 2005. "A Hedonic Perspective to Estimating a Marginal Value Function for a Subsistence Crop," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19500, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    16. Dengjun Zhang & Geir Sogn-Grundvåg & Frank Asche & James A. Young, 2018. "Eco-Labeling and Retailer Pricing Strategies: The U.K. Haddock Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-13, May.
    17. Laurian J. Unnevehr & Fatoumata C. Gouzou, 1998. "Retail premiums for honey characteristics," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(1), pages 49-54.
    18. Thunström, Linda, 2007. "The Marginal Willingness-to-Pay for Health Related Food Characteristics," Umeå Economic Studies 724, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    19. Shi, Hongqi & Price, David W., 1998. "Impacts Of Sociodemographic Variables On The Implicit Values Of Breakfast Cereal Characteristics," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 23(1), pages 1-14, July.
    20. Martínez-Garmendia, Josué, 2010. "Application of hedonic price modeling to consumer packaged goods using store scanner data," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(7), pages 690-696, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    hedonic model; taste; health; food consumption;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:foi:wpaper:2016_01. 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: Geir Tveit (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/foikudk.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.