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Abstract
The objective of this dissertation is to quantify associations and potential causal relations between food policies and consumer decisions in the United States and China.Chapter 2 estimates the impact of sodium reduction on the demand for instant noodle in China. Although there has been talk of voluntary sodium reduction among major Chinese food manufactures, it is not clear how unilateral or coordinated sodium reductions would affect companies market shares. To answer this question, in this chapter, we simulated several sodium reduction scenarios to look at the demand changes under different scenarios. We estimated a random-coefficient logit demand model which includes all major instant noodle brands and varieties.Chapter 3 examines the association between the US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the nutritional quality of participants food-at-home (FAH) purchases. Using the detailed food purchase data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS), we investigate the potential heterogeneity in the association between SNAP and diet quality among consumers with different levels of nutrition attitude.Chapter 4 estimates the effects of SNAP and price on low-income households food spending, based on which we discuss food tax and subsidy strategies to improve households nutritional status. We use the FoodAPS data combined with a two-part model to estimate the food group-specific marginal propensity to spend out of SNAP benefits and price elasticities of demand for eighteen food groups. Considering low-income households with worse food hardship are more likely to self-select into SNAP, we use state-level variation in SNAP enrollment policies and eligibility requirements and respondent-level variation in driving distance to the nearest SNAP office as instrumental variables to identify the causal effect of SNAP on food spending.