Working Paper: NBER ID: w14010
Authors: Tomas Philipson; Richard Posner
Abstract: The world-wide and ongoing rise in obesity has generated enormous popular interest and policy concern in developing countries, where it is rapidly becoming the major public health problem facing such nations. As a consequence, there has been a rapidly growing field of economic analysis of the causes and consequences of this phenomenon. This paper discusses some of the central themes of this decade long research program, aiming at synthesizing the different strands of the literature, and to point to future research that seems particularly productive.
Keywords: Obesity; Public Health; Economics
JEL Codes: I18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| price of food (Q11) | calorie consumption (D10) |
| technological change (O33) | calorie expenditure (Y60) |
| income (E25) | weight among poorer individuals (I32) |
| income (E25) | weight among wealthier individuals (D31) |
| social norms (Z13) | obesity prevalence (I14) |