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The Evolving Role of Food Sourced Outside the Home on Diets in the U.S.: 1977-2010

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  • Smith, Travis A.
  • Lin, Biing-Hwan
  • Coats, Ellen

Abstract

Food away from home (FAFH) is known to be of poorer nutritional quality. Given the increased prominence of FAFH over the past 35 years, some policymakers and health advocates seek to further regulate this market. This policy approach is only as strong as its expected impact. Using an individual fixed effects approach, we first document how FAFH (both fast food and restaurants) has had a relatively stable negative impact on dietary quality over 1977-2010. Yet, overall levels of dietary quality have increased over 20% during this period. To this end, we use an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition approach to understand how changes in FAFH choices and observable characteristics of individuals have impacted the trajectory of dietary improvements. We find that increased consumption of FAFH plays a very small role in explaining changes in dietary quality (about 4%) as compared to changes in demographics (e.g., age and race/ethnicity -- about 5%) and human capital (e.g., education -- about 7.5%). We attribute the substantial residual, or unexplained, improvement to changes in unobservable factors (e.g., consumer preferences, the food environment, and overlapping nutrition policy initiatives).

Suggested Citation

  • Smith, Travis A. & Lin, Biing-Hwan & Coats, Ellen, 2015. "The Evolving Role of Food Sourced Outside the Home on Diets in the U.S.: 1977-2010," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205770, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea15:205770
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.205770
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lin, Biing-Hwan & Guthrie, Joanne F., 2012. "Nutritional Quality of Food Prepared at Home and Away From Home, 1977-2008," Economic Information Bulletin 142361, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    3. Gregory, Christian & Smith, Travis & Wendt, Minh, 2011. "How Americans Rate Their Diet Quality: An Increasingly Realistic Perspective," Economic Information Bulletin 291943, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    5. Timothy K. M. Beatty & Biing-Hwan Lin & Travis A. Smith, 2014. "Is Diet Quality Improving? Distributional Changes in the United States, 1989-2008," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(3), pages 769-789.
    6. Variyam, Jayachandran N. & Smith, Travis A., 2010. "Americans Are More Realistic About the Quality of Their Diets," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, pages 1-1.
    7. Mancino, Lisa & Todd, Jessica & Lin, Biing-Hwan, 2009. "Separating what we eat from where: Measuring the effect of food away from home on diet quality," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 557-562, December.
    8. Beatty, Timothy K.M. & Lin, Biing-Hwan & Smith, Travis A., 2013. "The Effects of Age and Birth Cohort on Dietary Quality in the United States," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 151426, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Todd, Jessica E., 2014. "Changes in Eating Patterns and Diet Quality Among Working-Age Adults, 2005-2010," Economic Research Report 262214, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
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