Incentives to Eat Healthily: Evidence from a Grocery Store Field Experiment

C-Tier
Journal: Economica
Year: 2022
Volume: 89
Issue: 354
Pages: 489-509

Authors (3)

John A. List (National Bureau of Economic Re...) Anya Samek (not in RePEc) Terri Zhu (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.335 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We use a field experiment with over 200 participants to investigate the effect of incentives on grocery store purchases. We randomize participants to treatments where we incentivize produce purchases, provide tips for produce preparation, or both, and follow shopping behaviour for 6 months. Our informational treatment has a weak effect. However, we find an important price effect: modest incentives quadruple produce purchasing at our grocery store relative to the control group. After incentives are removed, the treatment group continues to purchase more produce at our grocery store. These long‐term results are consonant with a habit‐formation model, in contrast to standard price models or behavioural ‘crowd out‘ models.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:econom:v:89:y:2022:i:354:p:489-509
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25