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Behavioral Economics, Food Assistance, and Obesity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

David R. Just
David R. Just*
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York
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Abstract

While there is mixed evidence of the impact of food assistance programs on obesity, there is general agreement that the food-insecure are at higher risk of obesity and obesity-related diseases. Food assistance programs, originally designed to overcome a lack of available food, now need to confront a very different problem: how to provide for the food-insecure while encouraging healthy lifestyles. This paper examines the potential to address these competing needs using traditional economic policies (manipulating information or prices) versus policies engaging behavioral economics and psychology.

Keywords

food assistancebehavioral economicsfood insecurityobesity
Type
Invited Papers
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , October 2006 , pp. 209 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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