Intentions, Information, and Convenience: An Empirical Analysis of their Effect on the American Diet and Demand for Meat

The purpose of this paper will be to develop and present a new approach for examining the demand for meat by incorporating many of the advances in behavioral economics. By providing a closer approximation to how consumers actually behave, doing so should improve upon existing models. Incorporating findings from behavioral studies will also provide a richer theoretical basis to correct for the longstanding problem of endogeniety in cross-sectional studies. The theoretical model in this study begins with the Becker household production model, where individuals are assumed to maximize utility, subject to their production functions, budget constraint and time constraint. To develop a model that more accurately depicts how individual's make their food choices, this model additionally assumes that individuals 1) use household time to create food, health and relaxation; 2) make their food and nutrient consumption choices on a per-meal basis; 3) are affected by the prospect of immediate gratification, convenience and time delay, and 4) are more affected by these factors as their hunger increases