Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are experiencing a nutrition transition from traditional diets to high-energy, processed foods, increasing non-communicable disease risks. Digitalization of food systems plays a significant role in shaping this transition. This paper investigates the...

This paper uses restricted-access data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey to assess whether the sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax levied in Seattle in 2018 led to declines in body mass index (BMI) and the rate of obesity. We implement an event-study design which compares...

Malnutrition in its various forms is a serious problem in many countries, contributing to human suffering, large healthcare costs, and hampered economic and human development. While various policies to reduce malnutrition exist, such policies typically fail to consider cultural factors. Here, we...

Children form social ties along dimensions of gender and race/ethnicity, and thus may differ greatly in exposure to peer health and also in reactivity to peer influence. This paper estimates heterogeneity in the peer effects of obesity along dimensions of gender, race/ethnicity, and...

I argue that increased consumption of vegetable seed oils high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats has driven obesity in the United States, a link overlooked in the economics literature. Obesity rates have closely tracked the level of seed oils in the food supply since 1960, while diverging from...

The estimation and analysis of the distribution of the negative health impacts of certain commodities subject to excise taxes in Belize and the distribution of the burdens of the excise taxes across households of different income levels are the focus of this article. Particular attention is...

This study explores whether hospitals with higher increases in obesity levels have higher CS rates and the consequential effects on maternal and newborn health in Mexico for 2008-2015. It models how changes in the obesity level of hospitals' patient pools may affect the quantity and quality of...

In this study, we present a state-of-the-art scenario experiment which, for the first time in the literature, directly measures the stigma surrounding job candidates with tattoos and piercings using real recruiters. We find that job candidates with body art are perceived as less pleasant to work...

Using spatial and temporal variation in openings of fast food restaurants in Norway between 1980 and 2007, we study the effects of changes in the supply of high caloric nutrition on the health and cognitive ability of young adult males. Our results indicate that exposure to these establishments...

Using spatial and temporal variation in openings of fast food restaurants in Norway between 1980 and 2007, we study the effects of changes in the supply of high caloric nutrition on the health and cognitive ability of young adult males. Our results indicate that exposure to these establishments...

Being overweight or obese is associated with lower employment and earnings, possibly arising from employer discrimination. A few studies have used field experiments to show that obese job applicants are, in fact, discriminated against in the hiring process. However, whether overweight job...

We study the relationship between maternal education and children's well-being in four Pacific countries. We exploit the richness of the Multiple Indicator Clustering Survey (MICS) dataset to investigate this relationship and its underlying mechanisms. We find that the number of years of...

Obesity may not only be linked to undesirable health outcomes but also to limitations in sexual life. The present paper aims to assess whether there is a causal relationship between weight loss and sexual activity in adult obese individuals. To address the endogeneity of weight loss that is...

Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are experiencing a nutrition transition from traditional diets to high-energy, processed foods, increasing non-communicable disease risks. Digitalization of food systems plays a significant role in shaping this transition. This paper investigates the...

This paper uses restricted-access data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey to assess whether the sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax levied in Seattle in 2018 led to declines in body mass index (BMI) and the rate of obesity. We implement an event-study design which compares...

We propose a theoretical model to study individual lifestyle choices related to calorie intake and physical activity, depending on personal fitness level and body weight. The model builds on the rational eating literature and can generate a variety of behaviors that are consistent with the...

We employ a generalized additive model with complexity-penalized splines to estimate the trend in BMI values of both adults and children, using data in the 18 cycles of the NHANES surveys. To ensure a consistent obesogenic environment across survey participants, we restrict the sample to...

This paper identifies missing markets for the sugar content of sugar‐sweetened beverages (SSBs) as a novel foundation of soft drink taxation. If the social marginal value of sugar content is negative, then missing price signals imply an inefficiently high sugar content. Efficiency is restored...

This study investigates how providing fairness and effectiveness reasoning for obesity prevention policies impacts support for these policies. We used an online experimental survey to measure support for 12 policies. 1,353 participants were randomly shown a control version (basic description), a...

Obesity disease is a significant health issue and has affected millions of people worldwide. Identifying underlying reasons for the onset of obesity risk in its early stage has become challenging for medical practitioners. The growing volume of lifestyle data related to obesity has made it...

This paper investigates the effect of partner unemployment on individual physical health. Using data from two nationally representative Italian surveys of households and employing partial identification to address endogenous selection into unemployment, we show that the impact of partner...

We employ a generalized additive model with complexity-penalized splines to estimate the trend in BMI values of both adults and children, using data in the 18 cycles of the NHANES surveys. To ensure a consistent obesogenic environment across survey participants, we restrict the sample to...

Economic growth profoundly influences public health, however, its effects on specific health indicators can diverge. This study investigates the relationship between economic growth and health outcomes in Saudi Arabia, focusing on Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Life Expectancy at Birth (LEB), and...

We propose a theoretical model to study individual lifestyle choices related to calorie intake and physical activity, depending on personal fitness level and body weight. The model builds on the rational eating literature and can generate a variety of behaviors that are consistent with the...