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Book in Common Changes Students' Habits

Economist surveys students before and after reading Fast Food Nation

"After reading Fast Food Nation and finding out exactly what goes on in fast food restaurants, I don't know if I will ever be able to stomach fast food again." These words, penned by one of my students in Introduction to Economics (ECON 1), summed up the response of many to the information presented in the Book in Common for this year's freshman class.

When I learned that Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation had been selected as this year's Book in Common, I requested that I teach a section of ECON 1. The book seemed to be an excellent vehicle for teaching basic principles of economics. It would provide immediate relevance, as well as opportunities for development of critical thinking skills.

As an economist, I was also interested in any effect that new information about the fast food industry would have on the buying decisions of the students. One key assumption for the market structure known as "perfect competition" is complete, or perfect, information on the part of both buyers and sellers. Clearly, this is rarely met in practice, and my students' reading of the book offered an opportunity to take a look at whether or not the new information changed their fast food consumption patterns.

During the first week of the term, I asked students in my ECON 1 class about their typical consumption of fast food (number of visits per week), and their number of visits during the prior week. In October, at the end of the Fast Food Nation unit, I asked the students again to report their consumption of fast food, and to give reasons for any changes. In order to accommodate possible seasonal differences, I also asked a group of students in a Principles of Macroeconomics class about their fast food consumption and whether or not they had read Fast Food Nation or attended the seminar series.

Even before conducting statistical analysis, it was obvious that students who had read Fast Food Nation generally self-reported less frequent fast food consumption than those who hadn't. Simple regression analysis confirmed that across my sample of CSU, Chico students taking lower division economics classes, there were significantly fewer purchases of fast food among those who had read the book. To be more precise, the average number of visits prior to reading Schlosser's book was slightly less than two per week (1.89, +/- 0.65 at the 95 percent confidence level). Having read the book was associated with 71 percent fewer visits per week (coefficient = -1.35 visits per week, t = -2.87, which is significant at the .005 level), or about once every two weeks.

Looking at individual responses from students for whom I had both before and after results provided more information. Only one student had purchased fast food more often during the week in October than in August, but her typical consumption had fallen from five times per week to once every other week. Fully two-thirds of the students sampled had purchased fast food less frequently, and the majority of those whose purchasing patterns hadn't changed reported no purchases during either week. Similarly, two-thirds reported a decline in their usual weekly purchases, with the remainder unchanged. Not one student reported an increase in his or her typical number of purchases, and two-thirds had not purchased any fast food in the previous week, up from one-quarter early in the term.

In their comments, several students reported that they have changed where they buy their fast food, preferring either local establishments such as Burger Hut or the California, Nevada, and Arizona-based In-N-Out, both of which have different practices from those described in the book. Others mentioned that they were purchasing different items, either for health or food safety reasons. Such statements suggest that the simple measure of number of visits per week understates, if anything, the effect on consumption decisions.

In general, the survey results confirmed both my a priori expectation that increased relevant information would influence purchasing patterns, and my impression that the knowledge gained was leading to a reduced taste for mainstream fast food for a substantial number of students.

Patricia Lindsey, Economics