How do obese people afford to be obese? Consumption strategies of Russian households

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Analysing purchasing behaviour: A consumer segmentation of fresh-meat shoppers in Germany

Negative effects of heavy meat consumption have been critically discussed in politics, the public and science for a long time. As there is heterogeneity in consumer behaviour, targeted measures regarding behaviour management can hardly be implemented on the basis of an average consumption levels but should take into account different consumer segments. Therefore, this study performs a segmentation and characterisation of fresh-meat-shoppers based on household panel data provided by the GfK. A cluster analysis was performed based on the average per capita monthly purchasing shares of five different meat types. A multinomial logistic regression was used to characterize the different segments regarding sociodemographic aspects, people’s attitudes towards food and meat shopping, total purchasing intensity and different shopping locations. The authors found a four-cluster solution, identifying a segment of poultry lovers (24 %), a segment of beef, lamb & speciality purchasers (17 %), a segment of mixed product eaters (15 %) and a segment of pork buyers (45 %). Households assigned to the largest cluster of “pork buyers” have an above-average monthly meat purchase while being price-sensitive. Future policy instruments such as meat tax could address this buyer segment in particular, and probably decrease overall meat purchases. However, it should not be neglected that “beef, lamb & speciality purchasers” also have an above-average monthly meat purchase, causing particularly negative environmental effects. As this buyer segment has a rather high income and reports to be less price sensitive, it might be a challenge to influence their purchasing behaviour by taxing meat products

Projected health and economic impacts of sugar-sweetened beverage taxation in Germany: A cross-validation modelling study.

BackgroundTaxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) have been implemented globally to reduce the burden of cardiometabolic diseases by disincentivizing consumption through increased prices (e.g., 1 peso/litre tax in Mexico) or incentivizing industry reformulation to reduce SSB sugar content (e.g., tiered structure of the United Kingdom [UK] Soft Drinks Industry Levy [SDIL]). In Germany, where no tax on SSBs is enacted, the health and economic impact of SSB taxation using the experience from internationally implemented tax designs has not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to estimate the health and economic impact of national SSBs taxation scenarios in Germany.Methods and findingsIn this modelling study, we evaluated a 20% ad valorem SSB tax with/without taxation of fruit juice (based on implemented SSB taxes and recommendations) and a tiered tax (based on the UK SDIL) in the German adult population aged 30 to 90 years from 2023 to 2043. We developed a microsimulation model (IMPACTNCD Germany) that captures the demographics, risk factor profile and epidemiology of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke in the German population using the best available evidence and national data. For each scenario, we estimated changes in sugar consumption and associated weight change. Resulting cases of cardiometabolic disease prevented/postponed and related quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and economic impacts from healthcare (medical costs) and societal (medical, patient time, and productivity costs) perspectives were estimated using national cost and health utility data. Additionally, we assessed structural uncertainty regarding direct, body mass index (BMI)-independent cardiometabolic effects of SSBs and cross-validated results with an independently developed cohort model (PRIMEtime). We found that SSB taxation could reduce sugar intake in the German adult population by 1 g/day (95%-uncertainty interval [0.05, 1.65]) for a 20% ad valorem tax on SSBs leading to reduced consumption through increased prices (pass-through of 82%) and 2.34 g/day (95%-UI [2.32, 2.36]) for a tiered tax on SSBs leading to 30% reduction in SSB sugar content via reformulation. Through reductions in obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (CVD), 106,000 (95%-UI [57,200, 153,200]) QALYs could be gained with a 20% ad valorem tax and 192,300 (95%-UI [130,100, 254,200]) QALYs with a tiered tax. Respectively, €9.6 billion (95%-UI [4.7, 15.3]) and €16.0 billion (95%-UI [8.1, 25.5]) costs could be saved from a societal perspective over 20 years. Impacts of the 20% ad valorem tax were larger when additionally taxing fruit juice (252,400 QALYs gained, 95%-UI [176,700, 325,800]; €11.8 billion costs saved, 95%-UI [€6.7, €17.9]), but impacts of all scenarios were reduced when excluding direct health effects of SSBs. Cross-validation with PRIMEtime showed similar results. Limitations include remaining uncertainties in the economic and epidemiological evidence and a lack of product-level data.ConclusionsIn this study, we found that SSB taxation in Germany could help to reduce the national burden of noncommunicable diseases and save a substantial amount of societal costs. A tiered tax designed to incentivize reformulation of SSBs towards less sugar might have a larger population-level health and economic impact than an ad valorem tax that incentivizes consumer behaviour change only through increased prices

ON THE APPLICATION OF HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTION THEORY TO HEALTH AND NUTRITION

This paper reviews the application of household production theory to health and nutrition and their determinants in the economics literature. We examine 17 recent studies applying this approach and analyse how they model utility functions, elementary goods, and production processes. Notwithstanding the valuable insights provided by these economic analyses into the phenomenon of obesity and health behaviour, the framework’s basic idea, the separation of utility generation and production technology, is not pursued consistently. The majority of the studies reviewed focus solely on health production, thereby neglecting important production processes for other elementary commodities and their related inputs and technologies. We advocate a broader application of the household production principle and discuss how such a view can guide theoretical and empirical analysis and may provide inspiration for data collection and policy design

A soft pillow for hard times: Effects of economic insecurity on body weight in transitional Russia

Recent literature has identified increasing economic insecurity as a possible explanation for globally increasing obesity rates. This study investigates the causal effect of economic insecurity on weight outcomes in transitional Russia. Using data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey from 1994 to 2005 I construct several cumulative measures of economic insecurity and estimate their impact on Body Mass Index and waist circumference. I apply instrumental-variables methods to control for reverse causality and unobserved heterogeneity. Results show a mixed picture with both positive and negative effects of insecurity on weight and waist circumference, depending on the economic insecurity measure. Additional regressions on subjective statements of anxiety highlight the importance of examining the pathway from objective insecurity over subjective anxiety and behavior to final health and weight outcomes in more detail

THE DEMAND FOR FOOD QUALITY IN RUSSIA AND ITS LINKAGE TO OBESITY

This study analyses whether Russian households differ in their choice of food quality when they differ in their number of overweight and obese members. Using survey data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) for the years 1995-2005, households are classified into three weight groups. Quality elasticities of expenditures are estimated by a fixed-effects panel model regressing unit values of several food groups on expenditures and a set of household characteristics. Coefficients for each weight group are received by including interaction terms of expenditures and weight group dummies. A set of Wald tests is applied to test for slope heterogeneity across weight groups. Descriptive statistics reveal that obese households actually purchase larger quantities and pay less per unit for many food products. However, estimates of the quality elasticity show low absolute values and range from -0.2 to 1.1 for single food groups and the null hypothesis of equal parameters for all weight groups cannot be rejected

How (much) do food prices contribute to obesity in Russia?

High BMI and obesity contribute to the Russian health crisis. Previous studies have shown that weight status varies along socioeconomic lines but remains largely unaffected by economic shocks over time. This study is the first that explicitly analyses the impact of food prices on adult BMI and obesity in the Russian Federation. Using panel data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey from 1994 to 2005, that included 10,551 urban respondents over 18 years, a reduced form weight demand function is estimated. Controlling for individual heterogeneity by a fixed-effects model, price-weight elasticities are derived. The main result is that food prices are not the essential determinants of BMI and obesity in Russia. Elasticities of BMI with respect to single food prices are low and show absolute values smaller than 0.01. However, some products like chicken meat, milk, onions and butter show significant price effects on body mass. A 20% increase in the price of chicken meat would cause a reduction in body weight of 112 g on average. In contrast to the United States, it is mainly high-income households that show significant weight reactions to food prices in Russia. Separate regressions by gender showed significant effects of milk and butter prices on male BMI and of onion prices on female BMI. The risk of being obese is even less affected by price.Russia Obesity BMI Food prices Fixed-effects model