Joanna C. Parks

U.S. Food Policy and Obesity

The obesity epidemic has been identified as the most critical public health issue facing the United States today, but it is not confined to the United States or even to high-income countries. It is a global phenomenon that reaches the entire spectrum of the income distribution, and particularly the poorest individuals within rich countries and the middleand high-income individuals in the poorest countries. Many policies have been proposed to counter obesity, and some of those proposed policies focus on altering the food system—to influence food consumption habits and thus nutrition and obesity by changing the choices available to consumers or by changing the incentives to choose. Indeed, some jurisdictions have already introduced policies restricting the sale of certain food items in schools and others have introduced taxes on certain caloric beverages. This chapter reviews what is known about the causal links between food policies and obesity and presents new evidence about the likely efficiency and effectiveness of particular proposed policies as remedies for obesity.

The Returns to Promotion of Healthy Choices in Tasmania: Are You in the Dark About the Power of Mushrooms?

The Australian Mushroom Growers Association (AMGA) has recently developed a revised marketing strategy to promote mushrooms using messages based on scientific findings about the nutrition and health consequences of regularly incorporating mushrooms into meals. This article evaluates impacts based on a test-market experiment in Tasmania. We use a difference-in-differences econometric methodology to quantify the programme-induced shifts in demand, and we use the resulting estimates in a supply and demand modelling framework to quantify the effects of promotion-induced demand shifts on prices, quantities, and measures of economic well-being. We estimate a conservative benefit–cost ratio for Tasmanian producers of 7.6:1 if they were to bear the entire cost and 11.4:1 if the programme were financed by a levy on production (or spawn). The aggregate benefit–cost ratio, including benefits to consumers is also 11.4:1. 1