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Chuck Courtemanche
Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise
University of Kentucky
Chain Restaurant Calorie Posting Laws, Obesity, and Consumer Welfare
Abstract
This paper investigates whether and why calorie-posting laws for chain restaurants work. We develop a model of calories consumed that highlights two 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. Viewed in its totality, our results are consistent with an economic model in which calorie labels influence consumers both by providing information and by imposing a welfare-reducing moral cost (or feelings of guilt) on unhealthy eating.
About
Dr. Courtemanche is an Associate Professor of Economics in the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky and Director of the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise. He is a health economist and applied microeconomist with particular research interests in the economics of obesity and nutrition, health insurance, COVID-19, and big-box retailers. He has published over 45 papers in a variety of journals including the Economic Journal, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Health Economics, Health Affairs, Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Economic History, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, and Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. He has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Agriculture, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Courtemanche is also lead editor of the Southern Economic, a Research Associate in the Health Economics Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Research Affiliate with the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
