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Using Scanner Data for Food Policy Research is a practitioners' guide to using and interpreting scanner data obtained from stores and households in policy research. It provides practical advice for using the data and interpreting their results. It helps the reader address key methodological issues such as aggregation, constructing price indices, and matching the data to nutrient values. It demonstrates some of the key econometric and statistical applications of the data, including estimating demand systems for policy simulation, analyzing effects of food access on food choices, and conducting cost-benefit analysis of food policies. This guide is intended for early-career researchers, particularly those working with scanner data in agricultural and food economics, nutrition, and public health contexts. --

AbstractPartial equilibrium models have been used extensively by policy makers to prospectively determine the consequences of government programs that affect consumer incomes or the prices consumers pay. However, these models have not previously been used to analyze government programs that inform consumers. In this paper, we develop a model that policy makers can use to quantitatively predict how consumers will respond to risk communications that contain new health information. The model combines Bayesian learning with the utility-maximization of consumer choice. We discuss how this model can be used to evaluate information policies; we then test the model by simulating the impacts of the North Dakota Folic Acid Educational Campaign as a validation exercise.