6th Biennial Conference of the American Society of Health Economists

June 12 - 15, 2016

Field Experiments for Healthy Diets and Weight Loss

Obesity remains a major public health problem in the United States, and researchers and policymakers have sought many ways of slowing and reversing the obesity epidemic. This session contains three papers that report the results of field experiments to incentivize healthy eating or weight loss. The paper by Van Epps examines how time delays between placing a lunch order and picking it up affect the healthfulness of that lunch. The paper by Cawley examines how provision of calorie information affects the number of calories ordered by restaurant patrons. The paper by Volpp uses financial rewards to incentivize weight loss.