Valuation of health inputs and convenience in new products
Author
Summary, in English
The prevalence of illnesses related to the modern diet and a more sedentary lifestyle has increased markedly over the last few decades. There is therefore a need for effective strategies to promote health and to reduce the prevalence of diet-related diseases. In this paper, we study the willingness to pay for a new concept, healthy canteen takeaways. In the analysis, we depart from a household production model. To control for possible endogeneity of the health state, we use a control function approach. The result suggests that health inputs, such as low-fat meat and a larger amount of vegetables, increase respondents’ utility. Respondents’ valuations of the convenience attribute are very heterogenous, with both positive and negative values. From a policy perspective, the IV estimation turns out to be of importance, with a sign change in the valuation of low-fat meals for individuals with a poor health state (high BMI).
Department/s
Publishing year
2013
Language
English
Publication/Series
Working Paper No 2013:7
Issue
7
Document type
Working paper
Publisher
Department of Economics, Lund University
Topic
- Economics
Keywords
- endogen
- discrete choice
- health
- household production
- instrumental variable
Status
Published