Change & Maintaining Change in School Cafeterias: Economic and Behavioral-Economic Approaches to Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

Developing a daily habit of consuming fruits and vegetables (FV) in children is an important public-health goal. Eating habits acquired in childhood are predictive of adolescent and adult dietary patterns. Thus, healthy eating patterns developed early in life can protect the individual against a number of costly health deficits and may reduce the prevalence of obesity. At present, children in the United States (US) under-consume FV despite having access to them through the National School Lunch Program. Because access is an obstacle to developing healthy eating habits, particularly in low-income households, targeting children’s FV consumption in schools has the advantage of near-universal FV availability among more than 30 million US children. This chapter reviews economic and behavioral-economic approaches to increasing FV consumption in schools. Inclusion criteria include objective measurement of FV consumption (e.g., plate waste measures) and minimal demand characteristics. Simple but effective interventions include (a) increasing the variety of vegetables served, (b) serving sliced instead of whole fruits, (c) scheduling lunch after recess, and (d) giving children at least 25 minutes to eat. Improving the taste of FV and short-term incentivizing consumption of gradually increasing amounts can produce large increases in consumption of these foods. Low-cost game-based incentive program may increase the practicality of the latter strategy

Climate Change Denial and Skepticism : A Topic Prevalence Analysis from Open-Ended Survey Questions in China and the United States

Color poster with text, charts, and images.The importance of global climate change in society cannot be overstated. China and the United States share prominent roles in the development of international climate change mitigation strategies. Citizen support is crucial for climate change mitigation policy action to occur. However, due to the complexity of the issue, public views are diverse and can be uninformed or misinformed. There is evidence that American opinions on climate change are influenced by sources advocating denial and skepticism. We analyzed responses to the open-ended survey question “What comes to mind when you hear the words ‘climate change’?”, to better understand public views on climate change, Surveys were conducted of Chinese and American citizens from May – October 2015. We investigated the frequency that words/topics associated with climate change realities appeared in American and Chinese responses respectively. We also examined the frequency that words/topics associated with climate change denial, skepticism and misunderstanding occurred among respondents in both countries.Blugold Commitment; International Fellows Program; University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program

Examining Chinese and American Climate Change Views Using 2015, 2017 & 2020 Survey Data : Part 1-2

Color poster with text, images, charts, photographs, and graphs.With mounting scientific evidence regarding the realities of climate change (CC) including causes and consequences, the international/global importance of this issue cannot be overstated. Significant research has assessed public CC views in developed countries including the United States. However, much less is known about public CC views in developing countries, and in particular, in China. China and the US share a significant importance regarding international CC mitigation strategies as well as policy development because they are the world’s two largest greenhouse gas (GHG) polluters and also the two largest economies. Thus, a better understanding of Chinese and American views on CC is of great interest. Surveys were conducted in China and the US in 2015 (N=7,556), 2017 (N=7,415) and 2020 (N=2,600) to investigate a variety of issues regarding public views on CC in these two important countries. This presentation uses two posters to tell a comprehensive story of Chinese and American CC views using these data. The first part of this presentation constructs a CC Index based on a scoring system calculated from responses to eight survey questions yielding an easily understandable metric for comparing acceptance, knowledge, concern and obligation to act in the context of the scientific realities of CC. CC Index scores are compared across China and the US using aggregated data from 2015, 2017 and 2020 and an existing partisan political divide among American CC views is also highlighted. The second part of this presentation analyzes a variety of other data from survey questions regarding trust of science and media sources, support for the Paris Agreement, willingness-to-pay for CC policy action and exploring themes from responses to open-ended survey questions. Continued comparisons between Chinese and American CC views as well as the political divide on CC in the US are again presented using aggregated survey data from all three survey years.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program

A Scoring and Grouping System of Climate Change Acceptance/Knowledge/Concern for Citizens in the United States, China and Vietnam

Color poster with text, images, charts, photographs, maps, tables, and graphs.With mounting scientific evidence regarding the realities of climate change including causes and consequences, the international/global importance of this issue cannot be overstated. Significant research has assessed public climate change views in developed countries including the United States and in the European Union. However, much less is known about public climate change views in developing countries. Surveys were conducted of American (4,927), Chinese (2,629) and Vietnamese (1,496) citizens in 2015-16 to provide comparisons of how citizens in developed/developing countries view climate change. We construct a scoring and group classification system based on responses to survey questions. This process yields an understandable metric for comparing acceptance/knowledge/concern of basic climate change realities across citizens in these three countries.Blugold Commitment Differential Tuition Funds; University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program

Assessing Public Support for an International Climate Treaty Including Willingness-to-Pay in the United States, China and Vietnam

Color poster with text, images, charts, photographs and graphs.Climate change is the most important environmental/societal issue facing our world today. Because of the global causes/consequences of climate change, international cooperation is essential in developing, implementing and financing successful mitigation policy action. Additionally, public support for action around the world will likely be a significant determining factor regarding if/when climate change mitigation policies will be enacted. Moreover, the United States and China are central to international policy negotiations because they are the world’s two largest economies and the two largest greenhouse gas polluters. By comparison, Vietnam is a much smaller and poorer country with significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than either China or the United States. Perhaps more importantly Vietnam has been identified by the World Bank as one of the countries most at risk from the effects of climate change. Using our data described in our first poster, we assess support for an international climate change treaty among citizens in the United States, China and Vietnam. Additionally, there will be significant costs associated with undertaking global climate change mitigation policies. Thus, we also explore the degree to which citizens in these three countries are willing to pay these increased costs.Blugold Commitment Differential Tuition Funds; University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program