Do You Want Fries with that? An Exploration of Serving Size, Social Welfare, and Our Waistlines

19 Pages Posted: 3 Jul 2004

See all articles by Thomas D. Jeitschko

Thomas D. Jeitschko

Michigan State University - Department of Economics

Rowena Pecchenino

NUI Maynooth - Department of Economics

Abstract

In the debate over increasing obesity rates, fingers are often pointed at big food and their marketing practices. It is noted that restaurant meals are often larger than home-cooked meals and that portion sizes in restaurants have dramatically increased over the past few years. We investigate the issue by considering socially optimal - rather than decentralized profit maximizing - portions in restaurants to see whether welfare maximizing strategies may also be waistline-increasing. We demonstrate that socially optimal restaurant meals are larger in size than average home-cooked meals and, while many agents chose to super-size, the option of super-sizing actually alleviates the size discrepancy between home-cooked and restaurant meals. Moreover, socially optimal portion sizes at home and in restaurants increase with relative reductions in the marginal costs and/or relative increases in the fixed costs of meal preparation. Given this cost structure, when offered fries, a greater proportion of the population will answer with an enthusiastic yes!

Keywords: Obesity, Overweightness, Economics of Obesity, Fast Food, Big Food, Consumption Choices

JEL Classification: I10, D11

Suggested Citation

Jeitschko, Thomas D. and Pecchenino, Rowena, Do You Want Fries with that? An Exploration of Serving Size, Social Welfare, and Our Waistlines. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=560981 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.560981

Thomas D. Jeitschko

Michigan State University - Department of Economics ( email )

110 Marshall-Adams Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824
United States
517-355-8302 (Phone)
517-432-1068 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.msu.edu/~jeitschk/

Rowena Pecchenino (Contact Author)

NUI Maynooth - Department of Economics ( email )

County Kildare
Ireland
35317083751 (Phone)
35317083934 (Fax)

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