While obesity is a growing problem that entails considerable costs, its causes for individuals are not yet well understood in economic terms. Three explanatory approaches are explored: obesity as a rational decision pursued by the individual, obesity as a problem of too little information and...

When decision makers invest in effort to reach their targets, they face multiple sources of risk: first the risk of failure and second the noise that surrounds either the target or the initial situation. In this paper, we examine how effort is adjusted to account for changes in this risky...

This paper explores several explanatory approaches for the rise and the prevalence of obesity in society. Both rationalist approaches and explanations involving information problems or weakness of will are considered. It is shown that many world religions take a united stance against obesity....