Healthy School Lunch Behavior and the Invisible Hand

Abstract

Restricting the use of prepaid lunch accounts use may improve food selection without eliminating free choice.In a school lunch cafeteria, 166 students were allowed to purchase their lunch in one of three ways: 1) cash only, 2) cash and an unrestricted debit card, or 3) cash and a restricted debit card that could be used to purchase items marked as healthy. Those given restricted debit cards ate significantly fewer calories than those given the unrestricted card (p=0.045), and they consumed healthy foods (78.6%, p=0.000).Because this payment procedure still allowed students to use their own cash to purchase less healthy options, it did not unduly restrict dining options or reduce cafeteria revenue.