The Nudge blog digs up a story from the Washington Post about reforming the food stamps program to better promote nutrition. Many anti-hunger advocates have opposed placing restrictions on the use of food stamps based on nutritional content, arguing that it’s too difficult to classify so many foods and that many food stamps recipients have limited access to fresh or nutritious foods.
The Wholesome Wave Foundation found an innovative solution: they are “nudging” people toward fresh foods and vegetables by doubling the value of food stamps when used at farmers markets in California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut:
The Wholesome Wave matching grants were an instant hit at the City Heights market in San Diego. On the first day that matching funds became available, sales using government-issued electronic benefit cards soared by more than 200 percent. In subsequent weeks, the line to receive matching vouchers formed at 7:30 a.m., and the available funds were exhausted by 9:30 a.m., just 30 minutes after the market opened.
“We’re not taking away your benefits because you spend them on Twinkies,” said Michel Nischan, a Connecticut chef and president of Wholesome Wave. “But if you decide you want to spend it on fresh tomatoes, you’ll get double your money.”
[...] in Thaler and Sunstein’s book Nudge as well as on their blog. We’ve also mentioned them here and [...]
[...] markets isn’t the solution. Getting people to buy the good stuff is, such as policies that provide bonus Food Stamps dollars for fresh produce. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)New Oases in the Food DesertStructral impediments [...]