Now or Later

Chapter 8 provides the economic framework for analyzing the trade-offs between ‘now’ rewards (e.g., hedonic effects) and “later” rewards (e.g., health effects). Because health effects occur in the future and may be uncertain, health considerations are often heavily discounted when making food and nutrition choices. This heavy discounting of future effects is known in economics as present consumption bias. The chapter discusses the implications the present consumption bias will have for a choice between a healthy unsavory food versus an unhealthy indulgent food. It discusses the implications this present consumption bias may have for nutrition interventions. The chapter closes with some of the main empirical findings on present consumption bias related to food and nutrition choices.