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Does online food shopping boost dietary diversity? Application of an endogenous switching model with a count outcome variable

Author

Listed:
  • Wanglin Ma

    (Lincoln University)

  • Puneet Vatsa

    (Lincoln University)

  • Hongyun Zheng

    (Huazhong Agricultural University)

  • Yanzhi Guo

    (Institute of Food and Nutrition Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs)

Abstract

Increasingly, rural households in developing countries are shopping for food online, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend. In parallel, dietary guidelines worldwide recommend eating a balanced and healthy diet. With this in mind, this study explores whether online food shopping boosts dietary diversity—defined as the number of distinct food groups consumed—among rural households in China. Because people choose to shop for food online, it is important to account for the self-selection bias inherent in online food shopping. Accordingly, we estimate the treatment effects of online food shopping on dietary diversity using the endogenous switching model with a count outcome variable. The results indicate that online food shopping increases dietary diversity by 7.34%. We also find that education, asset ownership, and knowing the government’s dietary guidelines are the main factors driving rural households’ decisions to shop for food online.

Suggested Citation

  • Wanglin Ma & Puneet Vatsa & Hongyun Zheng & Yanzhi Guo, 2022. "Does online food shopping boost dietary diversity? Application of an endogenous switching model with a count outcome variable," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agfoec:v:10:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1186_s40100-022-00239-2
    DOI: 10.1186/s40100-022-00239-2
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Online food shopping; Dietary diversity; Endogenous switching; Rural China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • C24 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models; Threshold Regression Models

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