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Incentives to Eat Healthily: Evidence from a Grocery Store Field Experiment

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  • John A. List
  • Anya Samek
  • Terri Zhu

Abstract

We use a field experiment with over 200 participants to investigate the effect of incentives on grocery store purchases. We randomize participants to treatments where we incentivize produce purchases, provide tips for produce preparation, or both, and follow shopping behaviour for 6 months. Our informational treatment has a weak effect. However, we find an important price effect: modest incentives quadruple produce purchasing at our grocery store relative to the control group. After incentives are removed, the treatment group continues to purchase more produce at our grocery store. These long‐term results are consonant with a habit‐formation model, in contrast to standard price models or behavioural ‘crowd out‘ models.

Suggested Citation

  • John A. List & Anya Samek & Terri Zhu, 2022. "Incentives to Eat Healthily: Evidence from a Grocery Store Field Experiment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(354), pages 489-509, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:89:y:2022:i:354:p:489-509
    DOI: 10.1111/ecca.12403
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    Cited by:

    1. Chien‐Yu Lai & John A List & Anya Samek, 2020. "Got Milk? Using Nudges to Reduce Consumption of Added Sugar," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(1), pages 154-168, January.
    2. Christopher R Gustafson & Rachel Kent & Michael R Prate Jr, 2018. "Retail-based healthy food point-of-decision prompts (PDPs) increase healthy food choices in a rural, low-income, minority community," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Wansink, Brian, 2017. "Healthy Profits: An Interdisciplinary Retail Framework that Increases the Sales of Healthy Foods," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 65-78.
    4. Carroll, Kathryn A. & Samek, Anya Savikhin & Zepeda, Lydia, 2016. "Product Bundling as a Behavioral Nudge: Investigating Consumer Fruit and Vegetable Selection using Dual-Self Theory," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 236130, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Panzone, Luca A., 2022. "Conditional Promotion With A Costly Reward: An Evaluation Of A Campaign To Motivate Consumption Of Fruit And Vegetables," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322058, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Carroll, Kathryn A. & Samek, Anya, 2018. "Field experiments on food choice in grocery stores: A ‘how-to’ guide," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 331-340.
    7. Nguyen, Trang & de Brauw, Alan & van den Berg, Marrit, 2022. "Sweet or not: Using information and cognitive dissonance to nudge children toward healthier food choices," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    8. Just, David R. & Gabrielyan, Gnel, 2018. "Influencing the food choices of SNAP consumers: Lessons from economics, psychology and marketing," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 309-317.

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