[Dietary behavior and constraint by cost].
After the Second World War, it had become clear that consumers often use the price of a products as an indication to its quality, and the classical economy Homo Economicus'rationalism was often questioned, for that and other reasons, within the context of the Affluent Society. Today, we may be witnessing a return to rationalism. But it may still be more of a lip service rationalism than a behavioural one. Two studies are presented where housewives responded much more negatively "in words" (in their intended purchases, as stated in a survey) that "in fact" (in actual purchasing), when faced with a price increase of food commodities. The actual purchases were assessed by a controlled experiment using 15 supermarkets. The experiment, designed into a latin square, lasted three months. Four price levels were tested: normal, +20%, -10% and -20%. The intentions-to-buy were assessed by interviewing (at home) customers of the same supermarkets, during the experiment, and asking them whether they would buy the product at each of the four price levels, under experimentation.
D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005602:France; D006801:Humans
Comportement alimentaire et contrainte par les prix.