Working Paper: NBER ID: w29462
Authors: Katherine Meckel; Bradley Shapiro
Abstract: Using a large survey panel that connects household shopping behavior with individual health information, this paper documents correlations between self reported depression and the size and composition of shopping baskets. First, we find that roughly 16% of individuals report suffering from depression and over 30% of households have at least one member who reports suffering from depression. Households with a member suffering from depression exhibit striking differences in shopping behavior: they spend less overall, visit grocery stores less and convenience stores more frequently and spend a smaller share of their baskets on fresh produce and alcohol but a larger share on tobacco. They spend similar shares on unhealthy foods like cakes, candy, and salty snacks. These cross-sectional correlations hold within counties, suggesting that they are not driven by region specific demographics or preferences that are incidentally correlated with depression status. They also hold when considering only single-member households. However, we rule out large differences in shopping behavior within households as they change depression status. Further, using the take-up of antidepressants as an event, we document little change in shopping in response to treatment. With our results, we discuss takeaways for the economic impact of depression and for decision modeling.
Keywords: depression; shopping behavior; consumer choice; health economics
JEL Codes: I10; I12; M31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| depression (E32) | shopping behavior (D19) |
| depression (E32) | frequency of grocery store visits (L81) |
| depression (E32) | frequency of convenience store visits (L81) |
| depression (E32) | allocation of shopping basket to fresh produce (L81) |
| depression (E32) | allocation of shopping basket to alcohol (L66) |
| depression (E32) | allocation of shopping basket to tobacco (L66) |
| depression (E32) | spending on unhealthy foods (H51) |
| household fixed effects (C23) | depression and shopping behavior relationship (D12) |
| initiation of antidepressant treatment (Y20) | shopping behavior (D19) |