Replaced with revised version of paper 07/30/04.

The US population now leads the world in obesity rates. The estimated societal cost of the overweight and obesity issue exceeds $115 billion. Policy may play a role if economically justifiable but conflicting interests exist.

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/30/04.

Changes in lifestyles and higher caloric consumption are contributing to increasing obesity rates around the world. This article discusses the role of these and other socioeconomic factors and the magnitude of societal costs caused by the increasing prevalence of obesity.

This paper investigates how the Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Program (FFVP), a national program which provides funding for the distribution of free fresh fruits and vegetables to students in participating schools, affects childhood obesity. Using a panel data set, we combine matching methodology...

We investigate how the supply of retail food outlets affects the household purchase of fruits and vegetables. We are particularly interested in the specific effects of the increased supply on household of fruit and vegetable purchases in underserved areas. Difference-in-difference type...

Food away from home is recognized as one of the reasons behind recent overweight and obesity surge. The relationship between Body Mass Index and the distributional effects of food consumed at home and away from home at different levels of aggregation, along with demographic profile covariates...

Nutritional value is an important attribute of foods whose benefits can only be experienced by repetitive consumption in long run. Consumers’ knowledge about the importance and usefulness of specific nutrients in a food product may influence their subjective expectation of the product’s...

Enterobacter sakazakii, a pathogen that can be found in powdered infant milk formula, can cause adverse health effects on infants. Using Vickrey auction, this study examines parents' willingness to pay (WTP) for a quality assurance label on powdered infant milk formula. The influence of...

The relationship between nutrition knowledge and consumers’ food behavior has been debated for years. This may be partially attributed to the difficulty introduce by endogeneity of nutrition knowledge in econometric modeling. Using grass-fed beef as a vehicle, this paper investigates the...