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Depression and grocery shopping behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Katherine Meckel

    (University of California at San Diego)

  • Bradley T. Shapiro

    (University of Chicago)

Abstract

Depression is a chronic mental illness that has been found to affect economic activity such as labor supply. This paper presents the first correlations between depression, treatment, and shopping behavior. The existence (or lack thereof) of such correlations is informative with regards to the economic impacts of depression as well as consumer choice modeling. Our analysis uses a large survey panel which connects household shopping behavior with individual health information. In these data, 16% of individuals report suffering from depression and over 30% of households have at least one member who reports suffering from depression. Households with a member suffering from depression spend less overall; visit grocery stores less often and convenience stores more often; and spend a smaller share of their baskets on fresh produce and alcohol, a larger share on tobacco, and similar shares on unhealthy snacks. These cross-sectional correlations hold within counties and the subsample of single-member households. However, the correlations are considerably moderated when demographic controls are included and disappear completely when looking exclusively within households. Shopping behavior is also unchanged following the take-up of antidepressant treatment. These results imply that household-specific factors apart from depression likely drive the cross-sectional correlations. Additionally, these results provide some reassurance that, as long as the researcher has access to panel data, widespread depression does not undermine choice models.

Suggested Citation

  • Katherine Meckel & Bradley T. Shapiro, 2025. "Depression and grocery shopping behavior," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 291-317, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:qmktec:v:23:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s11129-024-09290-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11129-024-09290-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meckel, Katherine & Rittenhouse, Katherine, 2025. "The effect of smoking cessation on mental health: Evidence from a randomized trial," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    2. Matthew W. Ridley & Gautam Rao & Frank Schilbach & Vikram H. Patel, 2020. "Poverty, Depression, and Anxiety: Causal Evidence and Mechanisms," NBER Working Papers 27157, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Jonathan de Quidt & Johannes Haushofer, 2016. "Depression for Economists," NBER Working Papers 22973, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Hunt Allcott & Rebecca Diamond & Jean-Pierre Dubé & Jessie Handbury & Ilya Rahkovsky & Molly Schnell, 2019. "Food Deserts and the Causes of Nutritional Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(4), pages 1793-1844.
    5. Volpe, Richard & Kuhns, Annemarie & Jaenicke, Ted, 2017. "Store Formats and Patterns in Household Grocery Purchases," Economic Information Bulletin 256712, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mental health; Economic burden of depression; Shopping; Household panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing

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