• AEA in the news
  • September 19, 2016

Calorie posting on Starbucks Canada menus not likely to change coffee-buying habits

belinda_bw/Bigstock

CBC News covered a 2011 American Economic Journal: Economic Policy study about calorie postings on the menu at Starbucks stores. In Calorie Posting in Chain Restaurants, the authors analyze purchase data at Starbucks stores in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia around the time that a new calorie-posting requirement was instituted in New York City. They found that calories per purchase fell 6% after the change, but that calories from drinks were essentially unchanged. They also found no particular impact of the calorie-posting law on profits.