Getting a healthy start: The effectiveness of targeted benefits for improving dietary choices

2018/02/24 by Rachel Griffith, Stephanie von Hinke, Sarah Smith
Social Sciences · Decision Sciences · Medicine · #Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics #demographic modeling and climate adaptation #Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet

paper · doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2018.02.009

Abstract

There is growing policy interest in encouraging better dietary choices. We study a nationally-implemented policy - the UK Healthy Start scheme - that introduced vouchers for fruit, vegetables and milk. We show that the policy has increased spending on fruit and vegetables and has been more effective than an equivalent-value cash benefit. We also show that the policy improved the nutrient composition of households' shopping baskets, with no offsetting changes in spending on other foodstuffs.

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