Economics of diet and health: Research challenges

Abstract This paper explores some past, present, and future research challenges within the economics of diet and health policy. The discussion promotes the deep-rooted theme that integrating basic economic principles into the core of the biomedical disciplines can improve society's understanding of our choices over diet and food, and consequently health and well-being. From studying the past, we better understand the economic factors which counter the idea that biology is destiny; in the present, we see why accounting for endogenous health risks and private skill matters even if it is hidden information; and for the future, we can imagine identifying the economic and biomedical under which the presumption of rational choice works and fails to guide policy. Keywords: Riskexchangehealthambiguitydiet This paper summarizes the plenary lecture at the EAAE Seminar at the University of Reading on the Economics and Policy of Diet and Heath. The material comes from past and on-going work with Rick Horan, Erwin Bulte, Tom Crocker, Peter Orazum, Shen-Neng Chen, and Paul Kivi. All views remain my own. This paper summarizes the plenary lecture at the EAAE Seminar at the University of Reading on the Economics and Policy of Diet and Heath. The material comes from past and on-going work with Rick Horan, Erwin Bulte, Tom Crocker, Peter Orazum, Shen-Neng Chen, and Paul Kivi. All views remain my own. Notes This paper summarizes the plenary lecture at the EAAE Seminar at the University of Reading on the Economics and Policy of Diet and Heath. The material comes from past and on-going work with Rick Horan, Erwin Bulte, Tom Crocker, Peter Orazum, Shen-Neng Chen, and Paul Kivi. All views remain my own.