Getting a healthy start: The effectiveness of targeted benefits for improving dietary choices

Résumé

We show that a nationally-implemented voucher policy - the UK Healthy Start Scheme - increased spending on fruit and vegetables by 15 percent. However, the effects were heterogeneous. In line with standard economic predictions, households that previously spent less than the value of the voucher substantially increased spending on fruit and vegetables, whilst the voucher was equivalent to a cash benefit for “infra-marginal” households (40% of the total). Despite being effective at increasing spending on fruit and vegetables this implies a sizeable deadweight cost for targeted benefits designed to change dietary choices.