Publication Title: 
Public Health Law Research
Publication Date: 
Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Increasing concern about obesity and other nutrition-related health problems spurred governments to develop more robust and targeted approaches to foster healthier diet at a population level. Government routinely uses its regulatory power to alter activities and behaviors that influence public health, for example the New York City ban on the use of transfats in restaurants. Yet, in some scenarios, government may more effectively promote positive change through other means, including its purchasing or procurement authority. Emerging efforts using government purchasing power to stimulate demand for healthier products provides a pathway to healthier food purchasing.

Citations: 
Noonan, Kathleen G. and Sell, Katherine and Miller, Dorothy and Rubin, David, Government Purchasing to Improve Public Health: Theory Practice and Evidence (April 17, 2013). Public Health Law Research, March 13, 2013. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2240547 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2240547