Getting a healthy start: The effectiveness of targeted benefits for improving dietary choices

Rachel Griffith; Stephanie von Hinke; Sarah Smith

doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2018.02.009

Getting a healthy start: The effectiveness of targeted benefits for improving dietary choices

Rachel Griffith, Stephanie von Hinke^*, Sarah Smith

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

32 Citations (Scopus)

731 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

There is growing policy interest in encouraging better dietary choices. We study a nationally-implemented policy – the UK Healthy Start scheme – that introduced vouchers for fruit, vegetables and milk. We show that the policy has increased spending on fruit and vegetables and has been more effective than an equivalent-value cash benefit. We also show that the policy improved the nutrient composition of households' shopping baskets, with no offsetting changes in spending on other foodstuffs.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	176-187
Number of pages	12
Journal	Journal of Health Economics
Volume	58
Early online date	24 Feb 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2018.02.009
Publication status	Published - Mar 2018

Research Groups and Themes

ECON Applied Economics
ECON CEPS Health

Keywords

Dietary choices
Targeted benefits
Healthy Start scheme

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10.1016/j.jhealeco.2018.02.009

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This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via Elsevier at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629616302533 . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Final published version, 671 KBLicence: CC BY

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title = "Getting a healthy start: The effectiveness of targeted benefits for improving dietary choices",

abstract = "There is growing policy interest in encouraging better dietary choices. We study a nationally-implemented policy – the UK Healthy Start scheme – that introduced vouchers for fruit, vegetables and milk. We show that the policy has increased spending on fruit and vegetables and has been more effective than an equivalent-value cash benefit. We also show that the policy improved the nutrient composition of households' shopping baskets, with no offsetting changes in spending on other foodstuffs.",

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AU - von Hinke, Stephanie

AU - Smith, Sarah

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AB - There is growing policy interest in encouraging better dietary choices. We study a nationally-implemented policy – the UK Healthy Start scheme – that introduced vouchers for fruit, vegetables and milk. We show that the policy has increased spending on fruit and vegetables and has been more effective than an equivalent-value cash benefit. We also show that the policy improved the nutrient composition of households' shopping baskets, with no offsetting changes in spending on other foodstuffs.

KW - Dietary choices

KW - Targeted benefits

KW - Healthy Start scheme

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ER -

Getting a healthy start: The effectiveness of targeted benefits for improving dietary choices

Abstract

Research Groups and Themes

Keywords

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Professor Stephanie von Hinke

Cite this

Getting a healthy start: The effectiveness of targeted benefits for improving dietary choices

Abstract

Research Groups and Themes

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Other files and links

Embargoed Document

Fingerprint

Profiles

Professor Stephanie von Hinke

Cite this