Discussion and Final Remarks
As discussed previously, the literature on the economics of vegetarianism is very limited.
There have been no attempts, to this study’s knowledge, at evaluating the food expenditures a
consumer might face when following a vegetarian diet. Considering the amount of attention and
popularity this diet has accumulated, it is shocking that most of the claims being put forth are not
supported by empirical research. To fill this gap, this study attempted to address the claim that
vegetarians tend to have lower food expenditures than non-vegetarian consumers. We were able
to show that the probability of spending less than $300 on food expenditures decreased when a
consumer was a vegetarian. Conversely, the probability of being in a high ranked ordinal
category of food expenditures increased when a consumer followed a vegetarian diet.
In addition to evaluating the effects of a vegetarian diet, we also estimated the impact of
purchasing organic foods on food expenditures. Similar to the effect of a vegetarian diet on the
lowest ordinal outcome of food expenditures, purchasing organic foods also decreased the
probability of being in this category. Furthermore, every observation was statistically significant
in our model and thus we showed with confidence that purchasing organic foods increases
overall food expenditure. The next step to consider is the relationship between organic foods and
vegetarians. This study did not consider this relationship but does recommend further research on
this topic. Given that the market for organic foods will continue to increase, we need to
understand how particular food regimes affect purchasing behavior. If organic agriculture is part
of the “going green” initiative, then gathering information on “green” consumers and what type
of diet they are following is crucial for capturing the true potential of this market.