Econometric analysis of food label use, nutrient demands, and diet quality /
In an effort to improve dietary intakes and make nutrition information available to consumers, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) was enacted in 1990. The NLEA requires specific nutritional information on food labels. Hence, the effectiveness of the NLEA is contingent upon consumers...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2000.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=727843001&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | In an effort to improve dietary intakes and make nutrition information available to consumers, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) was enacted in 1990. The NLEA requires specific nutritional information on food labels. Hence, the effectiveness of the NLEA is contingent upon consumers' use of these food labels. Particular attention is given to the dietary impact of food label use because improved diets can provide society with dramatic health benefits. This dissertation is comprised of five essays. The first essay reviews economic theories on the role of food labeling in markets for food products with credence characteristics. In the second essay, the effect of nutritional label use on the selected nutrient intakes is examined by estimating an endogenous switching regression model. Nutritional label use decreases average daily intakes by Americans of calories from total fat and saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium, but it increases average daily fiber intakes. In the third essay, the overall dietary impact of food label use is evaluated by using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). Estimation results of self-selectivity model show that food labels provide measurable benefits by improving diet quality of Americans by as much as 4-6 points on a 100 point HEI scale. Among nutritional panels, serving sizes, nutrient content claims, list of ingredients, and health claims, the use of health claims on food labels provides the highest level of improvement in diet quality. In the fourth essay, the role of health knowledge in consumer use of the nutritional label is explored. Binary choice label use and level of label use models are employed with particular attention given to the endogeneity of health knowledge variable. Health knowledge has a significant role in increasing the use of two types of nutritional label. In the fifth essay, the finite sample properties of instrumental variable (IV) estimator are examined in nutrient models with a dummy endogenous variable. Results of Monte Carlo experiments show that relevance problems with the IV estimation in continuous variable cases carry over to dummy endogenous variables. This finding suggests rejection of an "always instrumentation" policy for endogenous dummy explanatory variables. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Agricultural Economics". |
| Physical Description: | xi, 144 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-138). |