Econometric Analysis of Health Information Impact on Food Consumption

Abstract

　This paper focuses on the links between health information related to food consumption and food consumption behavior. The impact of health risk information on salad oil consumption is investigated. Measurement of information is expressed in terms of the number of relevant articles on health risk topics in major newspapers in Japan. In recent years, Japanese salad oil consumption has not changed drastically, but rapeseed oil and safflower oil consumption have grown steadily.
　The applied model in this study is based on a discrete / continuous model which was derived by Hanemann and extended by Yoshino. This model enables the study to evaluate the effects of information implied by aggregated data without supposing a representative consumer.
　The results of cointegration analysis indicate that there is a long equilibrium relationship among health risk information, salad oil consumption and salad oil price. The relevant estimated coefficient implies that increasing health risk information has caused so-called premium oils, such as rapeseed oil or safflower oil, consumption to increase in the long term. The hypothesis that consumers never decrease health risk perception but increase it as additional health information is obtained over time is supported.