2023 Paul E. Green Award Winners Announced

Max J. Pachali, Marco J.W. Kotschedoff, Arjen Van Lin, Bart J. Bronnenberg, and Erica Van Herpen have been selected to receive the 2023 Paul E. Green Award for their article, “How Do Nutritional Warning Labels Affect Prices?” which appeared in the February 2023 issue (Volume 60, Issue 1) of Journal of Marketing Research.

The Paul E. Green Award recognizes the Journal of Marketing Research article published in the previous full calendar year that shows or demonstrates the most potential to contribute significantly to the practice of marketing research and research in marketing. All Journal of Marketing Research articles published in the the previous calendar year are eligible for the award. This year’s selection committee included Raghuram Iyengar (University of Pennsylvania), Michel Wedel (University of Maryland), and Karen Winterich (Pennsylvania State University). The committee noted:

In their paper, “How Do Nutritional Warning Labels Affect Prices?” Max J. Pachali, Marco J.W. Kotschedoff, Arjen van Lin, Bart J. Bronnenberg, and Erica van Herpen identify potential  unintended consequences of policies intended to benefit society. They examine the impact of nutritional warnings labels on food packages, mandated through first-in-its-kind legislation in Chile, on food prices and consumer demand. Though such policies have the intention to improve consumer nutrition given rising obesity rates, particularly among vulnerable groups, this regulation resulted in firms increasing the price of the unhealthy products carrying warning labels. The critical question addressed in this research is to explain what causes these price increases, how different segments respond to these price increases, and the total effect on the market share of healthy and unhealthy products given the goal of the policy.

Using household purchase data in the cereal category, a utility maximization model of consumer demand and a Nash-Bertrand equilibrium model multiproduct manufacturer price setting is used to test the impact of labeling. The structural approach is state-of-the-art and the field data enables a deep investigation of the effects of nutrition labeling. The price changes in response to labeling are driven by how different segments of consumers respond to labeling. The authors find that while labeled products increase prices and are chosen more by less price-sensitive consumers, unlabeled products tend to decrease price. This decrease allows for price-sensitive and lower-income consumers to remain in the category and choose healthier (unlabeled) products. Together, these price changes result in an increase in the market share of healthier cereals, supporting policymakers’ goal of reducing unhealthy food consumption without preventing access of healthy foods to the most vulnerable (e.g., lower-income) households.

This article was selected because of its important contribution to the understanding of the impact of food labeling policy decisions in the marketplace, particularly their differential impact on vulnerable consumer segments.

Read an in-depth recap of this research and an interview with the author team here.

Four other excellent articles were named finalists for the 2023 Paul E. Green Award:

• “From Free to Paid: Monetizing a Non-Advertising-Based App,” by Jingcun Cao, Pradeep Chintagunta, and Shibo Li
• “What Motivates Social Security Claiming Age Intentions? Testing Behaviorally Informed Interventions Alongside Individual Differences,” by Adam Eric Greenberg, Hal E. Hershfield, Suzanne B. Shu, and Stephen A. Spiller
• “Statistical Inference for the Factor Model Approach to Estimate Causal Effects in Quasi-Experimental Settings,” by Kathleen T. Li and Garrett P. Sonnier
• “Suspense and Surprise in Media Product Design: Evidence from Twitch,” by Andrey Simonov, Raluca M. Ursu, and Carolina Zheng

The authors will be honored at the AMA Summer Academic Conference in Boston (August 16–18, 2024). A special session will be devoted to the winning article and the other finalists at the conference as well.

Go to the Journal of Marketing Research