Working Paper: NBER ID: w9247
Authors: Shinyi Chou; Michael Grossman; Henry Saffer
Abstract: Since the late 1970s, the number of obese adults in the United States has grown by over 50 percent. This paper examines the factors that may be responsible for this rapidly increasing prevalence rate. To study the determinants of adult obesity and related outcomes, we employ micro-level data from the 1984-1999 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. These repeated cross sections are augmented with state level measures pertaining to the per capita number of fast- food restaurants, the per capita number of full-service restaurants, the price of a meal in each type of restaurant, the price of food consumed at home, the price of cigarettes, clean indoor air laws, and hours of work per week and hourly wage rates by age, gender, race, years of formal schooling completed, and marital status. Our main results are that these variables have the expected effects on obesity and explain a substantial amount of its trend. These findings control for individual-level measures of household income, years of formal schooling completed, and marital status.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I12; I18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increased labor force participation (J21) | higher convenience food consumption (D18) |
| higher convenience food consumption (D18) | increased prevalence of obesity (I14) |
| increased labor force participation (J21) | increased prevalence of obesity (I14) |
| rise in real price of cigarettes (D49) | reduced smoking rates (I12) |
| reduced smoking rates (I12) | weight gain in individuals who quit smoking (I12) |
| rise in real price of cigarettes (D49) | weight gain in individuals who quit smoking (I12) |
| rise in real price of cigarettes (D49) | increased prevalence of obesity (I14) |