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Snacks, nudges and asymmetric peer influence: Evidence from food choice experiments with children in Indonesia

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  • Mecheva, Margarita de Vries
  • Rieger, Matthias
  • Sparrow, Robert
  • Prafiantini, Erfi
  • Agustina, Rina

Abstract

Many children in low- and middle-income countries are growing up during a rapid nutrition transition. Experimental evidence on food choice in developing countries is scarce, while it is unclear to what extent evidence from high-income countries can be generalized. Children participated in a snack choice experiment. We expose some children to emoji labels encouraging healthy snacks, while others observe healthy or unhealthy snacking by peers. While emoji labels moderately promote healthy snacking, the adverse effect of observing a peer eating the unhealthy snack is very large. The effect associated with observing a healthy peer is insignificant. Additionally, cross-randomized blocks of children watched a nutrition video to study the interaction of information provision and nudging. The video independently improves healthy choices but does not aid the emoji nudge and cannot counter the strong negative peer effect. We compare our findings to studies conducted in developed countries and discuss policy implications.

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  • Mecheva, Margarita de Vries & Rieger, Matthias & Sparrow, Robert & Prafiantini, Erfi & Agustina, Rina, 2021. "Snacks, nudges and asymmetric peer influence: Evidence from food choice experiments with children in Indonesia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:79:y:2021:i:c:s016762962100093x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102508
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    2. Hou, Minghui & Min, Shi & Qing, Ping & Tian, Xu, 2024. "Can a knowledge calendar improve dietary knowledge? Evidence from a field experiment in rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    3. Ana Balsa & Cecilia Noboa & Patricia Triunfo, 2024. "Nudging healthy food choices through e‐messages in a supermarket," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(8), pages 1705-1725, August.
    4. Manuela Fritz & Michael Grimm & Ingmar Weber & Elad Yom-Tov & Benedictus Praditya, 2022. "Uncover your risk! Using Facebook to increase personal risk awareness and screening of type 2 diabetes in Indonesia," Working Papers 221, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
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    6. Lenel, Friederike & Priebe, Jan & Satriawan, Elan & Syamsulhakim, Ekki, 2022. "Can mHealth campaigns improve CCT outcomes? Experimental evidence from sms-nudges in Indonesia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Food choice; Nudges; Peer effects; Overweight; Indonesia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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