Abstract Shoppers that use cash as a form of payment are more likely to evaluate the necessity of an item they purchase than shoppers that pay with other forms of payment, such as credit cards. In this paper, we hypothesize that the use of cash may nudge shoppers to buy more healthful food items. We empirically evaluate whether the payment method affects the nutritional quality of food purchases. We also test whether the effect of payment type differs between food-at-home and food-away-from-home events. Specifically, we test whether shoppers purchase a higher share of nutritious food items when they pay with cash compared to when they use credit and debit cards. We use the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) data that tracks individual’s food purchases over one week. Using the Guiding Stars Program (GSP) algorithm to measure the nutritional quality of food items, we calculate the share of healthy items purchased at each event. We find that shoppers using cash purchase a higher share of healthy items than when they use credit or debit cards, and this nudging effect is primarily driven by food-away-from-home purchases.

中文翻译：

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您的支付方式是否会影响您购买的健康商品的份额？按付款类型评估购买食品的营养质量差异

摘要 使用现金作为支付方式的购物者比使用其他支付方式（如信用卡）支付的购物者更有可能评估他们购买的商品的必要性。在本文中，我们假设使用现金可能会促使购物者购买更健康的食品。我们凭经验评估付款方式是否会影响食品购买的营养质量。我们还测试了在家用餐和外出就餐活动之间支付类型的影响是否不同。具体来说，我们测试购物者在使用现金支付时是否购买了比使用信用卡和借记卡时更高比例的营养食品。我们使用全国家庭食品采购调查 (FoodAPS) 数据来跟踪个人一周内的食品购买情况。使用引导之星计划 (GSP) 算法来衡量食品的营养质量，我们计算了在每次活动中购买的健康食品的份额。我们发现，与使用信用卡或借记卡相比，使用现金的购物者购买健康商品的比例更高，而这种推动效应主要是由外卖食品推动的。