Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Facts Don't Matter

To the food nannies, actual facts are irrelevant.

Jacob Grier cites some of these facts.

I myself was so discombobulated I went all Boudreaux on the New and Observer, for this story.

5 comments:

Tom said...

"Boudreaux" is now a verb. Long may he write.

Gerardo said...

Doesn't giving calorie information provide a selection bias problem? For instance, I hardly ever go to Cinnabon more than once or twice a week now that I know how many calories those things have.

Richard Stands said...

But think of the stimulus this has given to printers.

And quidnuncs.

Pablo said...

I hardly think that anyone entering a Taco Time (is that like Taco Bell?) is going to be bothered by the nutritional facts.

I love this blog! I have browsed around for a while, but never commented.

Expected Optimism said...

Food nannies? I think that's a bit excessive.

We know the market works best when information is free. Restaurant patrons face an inherent asymmetric information problem, which we know will lead to suboptimal choices. Moreover, restaurants are already required to have nutritional information available. All they have to do is incorporate the information into their menus the next time they're reprinted (assuming an appropriate lag time between the announcement of the new requirement and the beginning of enforcement).

As for ignoring facts, how do you respond to studies such as Burton et al 2006, Roberto et al 2009, Kuo et al 2009, and Bollinger et al 2010?