Replication data for: Are Restaurants Really Supersizing America?

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Michael L. Anderson; David A. Matsa

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AEJApp-20090344_data.1			10/12/2019 03:20:PM
LICENSE.txt	text/plain	14.6 KB	10/12/2019 11:21:AM

Project Citation:

Anderson, Michael L., and Matsa, David A. Replication data for: Are Restaurants Really Supersizing America? Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2011. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-10-12. https://doi.org/10.3886/E113773V1

Project Description

Summary: While many researchers and policymakers infer from correlations between eating out and body weight that restaurants are a leading cause of obesity, a basic identification problem challenges these conclusions. We exploit the placement of Interstate Highways in rural areas to obtain exogenous variation in the effective price of restaurants and examine the impact on body mass. We find no causal link between restaurant consumption and obesity. Analysis of food-intake micro-data suggests that consumers offset calories from restaurant meals by eating less at other times. We conclude that regulation targeting restaurants is unlikely to reduce obesity but could decrease consumer welfare. (JEL I12, I18, L51, L66)

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      I12 Health Behavior
      I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
      L51 Economics of Regulation
      L66 Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco; Wine and Spirits

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Published Versions

V1 [2019-10-12]

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DDI 2.5

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