Journal article
Chain Restaurant Calorie Posting Laws, Obesity, and Consumer Welfare
Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol.23(5), pp.1669-1711
10/10/2025
DOI: 10.1093/jeea/jvaf004
Appears in UI Libraries Support Open Access
Abstract
This paper investigates whether and why laws requiring chain restaurants to post calories on menus and menu boards work. We develop a model of calories consumed that highlights multiple potential channels through which these laws influence choice and that outlines an empirical strategy to disentangle these alternatives. We test the predictions of our model using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System on body mass index (BMI) and consumer well-being, as well as our own surveys on how the law influences where people eat and how randomized exposure to calorie information affects feelings towards menu items. Viewed in its totality, our results are consistent with an economic model in which calorie labels influence consumers both by providing salient information and by imposing a welfare-reducing moral cost (or feelings of guilt) on unhealthy eating.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Chain Restaurant Calorie Posting Laws, Obesity, and Consumer Welfare
- Creators
- Charles Courtemanche - University of KentuckyDavid Frisvold - University of IowaDavid Jimenez-Gomez - University of AlicanteMariétou H Ouayogodé - University of Wisconsin–MadisonMichael K Price - National University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol.23(5), pp.1669-1711
- DOI
- 10.1093/jeea/jvaf004
- ISSN
- 1542-4766
- eISSN
- 1542-4774
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Grant note
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: R01DK107686 National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of HealthAlfred P. Sloan Foundation: RED2018-102761-T Ministry of Science and Innovation: PID2019-107081GB-I00 European Regional Development Fund (FEDER): PROMETEO/2021/073 Valencian CommunityUniversity Alicante: RECUALI21-04 Spanish Ministry of Universities: PID2022- 142356NB-I00, MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 European UnionFEDER, UE
We thank Patrick Cullen, Joey Garrucio, Katherine Hauck, Jordan Jones, Abigail Kappelman, Katelyn Kelley, Grant Laverty, Chelsea Lensing, Miguel Risco-Bermejo, Tyler Shearer, Matthew Steinert, and Maxwell Umphress for research assistance. We thank Melissa Haberlin for her legal expertise and assistance interpreting local and state calorie mandate legislation. We thank participants from numerous seminars and conferences as well as the editor and four anonymous referees for helpful comments. We acknowledge funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01DK107686. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the of cial views of the National Institutes of Health. Co-authors Price and Jimenez-Gomez would like to thank the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for funding. Jimenez-Gomez is also grateful for the funding from the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), through the PID2019-107081GB-I00 project; from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, through the project "Nudging applied to the improvement of regulation" (RED2018-102761-T); from the Valencian Community, through program PROMETEO/2021/073; from the University Alicante and the Spanish Ministry of Universities, for the program RECUALI21-04, funded by the European Union (Next Generation EU); for the program PID2022- 142356NB-I00 nanced by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER, UE. Courtemanche and Frisvold are affiliated at NBER and IZA. Price is affiliated at RWI-Essen, and NBER.
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 01/16/2025
- Date published
- 10/10/2025
- Academic Unit
- Economics
- Record Identifier
- 9984775018002771
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