From a public policy standpoint, this idea has value not because of those people, but because of the large number of people who are indifferent between whole milk and skim milk – why not give them the healthier version if they don’t care?

This has the additional effect of stigmatizing the unhealthy version – as opposed to now, when there is, in my opinion, a slight stigma on the healthy version. My choices of salad over fries or wheat bread over white bread quite often elicit comments from my friends that can make me quite uncomfortable while ordering in front of them. Flipping that around is no doubt better for the purpose of public health.

Why do you think we have profitably super-sized portions as defaults despite it not being in our collective best interests?

Thanks for the comments! A couple of quick responses:

1. The question the post was designed to raise was why we have super-sized portions as defaults when that is not in our collective best interests, not whether super-sizing is profitable for businesses. As Jon Hanson, David Yosifon, and I have chronicled in other work (see, e.g., pages 1694-1700 in Broken Scales), it definitely can be, just as you point out (although we’d suggest that the relevant costs are likely not the bagel or whatever else you had with it, but rather the fixed costs of the physical space of the restaurant, employee salaries, advertising, etc.).

2. With respect to the comments about personal responsibility and focusing on resetting “internal defaults,” that’s been the major push with respect to addressing obesity in America and it just hasn’t worked. In the United States, there are certainly individuals who manage to maintain a healthy weight in the midst of a “toxic” food environment and a large majority who don’t. As we suggest in Broken Scales, if we really want to make big strides in our battle against obesity, our best hope is to focus on our situations not on our dispositions.

Also, if I grab a bagel to go and find out later there’s only a measly skim of cream cheese on it, I’d be pissed. If you’re worried about too much then grab a plastic knife on your way out, in anticipation.

I guess my point is that you’re making the assumption that other people want/need these assumptions reset. Some people WANT fries as the default – maybe they are perfectly healthy and active, rarely eat out, and this is their one treat now and then.

It still all comes down to personal responsibility (when it comes to obesity). For example, I don’t worry about diet vs. regular soda…because even diet is really unhealthy, so I just don’t drink it. Yes, even when it’s free or cheap. Maybe it’s the INTERNAL defaults which need to be reset.