Nutrition and Food Choice: Home vs. Restaurants

Using the USDA Healthy Eating Index, a nutrition index based on nutrient profiling, and a measure of calorie density, we compare the healthiness of food choices at home and away from home by two samples of consumers. Along with simple statistical procedures, we use a method employed by financial economists to evaluate mutual fund performance. Data are from the 2009–2010 and 2013–2014 NHANES food surveys. We find that consumers with healthier home diets tend to show less attention to nutrition when away from home. While this may reflect a lack of nutrition knowledge, we suggest they are also a reflection of deliberate choice, of regarding restaurant eating as a “treat,” as at least one survey has shown.     

Consumer demand for nutrition versus taste in four major food categories

This study addresses the trade‐off between nutrition and taste in expenditure on breakfast cereal, milk, bread, and soft drinks. Within each category, products have similar cost and convenience, but have markedly different flavor and nutritional content. Using annual expenditure data for a large sample of households participating in the ACNielsen Homescan system, we regress a measure of “healthiness” on household demographics and market prices, and find that households with college‐educated heads and higher incomes made significantly healthier choices in all four categories. These effects are puzzling in that the nutritional differences between products were well known to consumers, and there are no cost or convenience differences between them. The presence of children was associated with less healthy choices, especially for cereal and bread, while older households made healthier choices in all categories except milk.     

Impacts of alternative degrees of freedom corrections in two and three stage least squares

There is a lack of uniformity concerning the appropriate degrees of freedom to use in estimating simultaneous equations. This issue is examined through a Monte Carlo study comparing estimates and inferences obtained using alternative choices of degrees of freedom in two and three stage least squares. While 2SLS estimates do not depend upon this choice, 3SLS estimates do. However, in the study the choice had little impact on 3SLS estimates. But the results strongly suggest that approximate tests conventionally used are much more accurate for both methods if estimated variances account for lost degrees of freedom.     

Alternative Methods of Estimating Export Demand: A Monte Carlo Comparison

A simple two-country trading model is used to compare three methods of estimating export demand: ordinary least squares, two stage least squares, and two stage least squares applied to importer domestic equations (from which were derived excess demand). The performance of the estimators depends primarily on relative error variances around excess supply and demand. While there are situations where ordinary least squares performs well, it often gives very poor estimates. The third method is superior in the general case.
On utilise un modèle classique d'analyse du commerce extérieur entre deux pays afin de comparer trois méthodes d'estimation de la demande pour l'exportalion. Ces méthodes utilisées pour quantifier la demande excédemaire correspondent respectivement à:

• 1.

   un simple modèle line'aire
• 2.

   un modèle général àéquations multiples
• 3.

   un modèle àéquations multiples s'appliquant uniquement aux fonctions d'offres et de demandes du pays importateur

Le rendement des coefficients estimés dépend, en majeure partie, de la variation relative de l'erreur associée aux offres et demandes excédentaires. En particulier, le simple modèle linéaire ne permet pas, sauf exception, d'estimer correctement les coefficients. Dans le cas général, la troisième méthode donne lieu à de meilleures estimations des coefficients.     

Cosmic profit: Countercultural commerce and the problem of trust in American marketing

This article offers an historical thesis on the demise of impersonal mass marketing and its replacement by personal niche or lifestyle marketing. Two parallel discussions are examined on the moral possibilities of marketing: one within the mainstream marketing establishment and the other among a countercultural network of small businesses. On a macro‐theoretical level, theories of moral identity (derived from Anthony Giddens) are used to describe the anxieties provoked by a popular failure of trust in mass marketing generally, and the significance of lifestyles in refurbishing this trust. On a cultural–historical level, the dialogue between mainstream and countercultural businesses reveals how these anxieties were addressed through lifestyles meant to affirm trust and intimacy between marketers and consumers. An analysis of the intellectual synergy between countercultures and mainstream marketers suggests an alternative to the standard understanding of cooptation.     

Procompetitive Effects of Foreign Competition on Domestic Markups

A short-run model for estimating the procompetitive effects of foreign competition on markups in an oligopolistic, domestic industry is developed and estimated using data on the Australian automobile industry. Estimates reveal that these effects are rather large and cannot be ignored when predicting the effects of a shock affecting foreign costs. These estimates can also facilitate inferences about the nature of interfirm rivalry.