How To Discourage Unhealthy Eating: Make It Expensive And Make People Feel Bad About It

A lab experiment shows that some public health food policies, from healthy food subsidies to anti-obesity advertisements, may only have a small effect on eating habits. Taxes, though, work pretty well.

We don't really know how to encourage healthy eating. Calorie counts on menus are a popular idea among health experts (and a requirement under the Affordable Care Act). But the evidence that they work is shaky at best. Research into other policy options, such as calorie taxes, subsidies for better food, and healthy food advertising, is limited. The work has tended to be second-hand or at 30,000 feet. It hasn't involved actual people in randomized trials.

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