The Economics Of Childhood Obesity

Abstract

In the past few decades, obesity rates among American children have skyrocketed. Although many factors have played a part in this unhealthy increase, this paper focuses on how economic policies may be contributing to our children's growing girth and how these policies might be altered to reverse this trend. It examines the economic causes and consequences of obesity, the rationales for government intervention, the cost-effectiveness of various policies, and the need for more research funding.I n the twenty-five years that elapsed between surveys conducted in 1971-1974 and in 1999-2000, the prevalence of obesity rose from 5 percent to 10.4 percent among two-to-five-year-olds; from 4 percent to 15.3 percent among six-to-elevenyear-olds; and from 6.1 percent to 15.5 percent among twelve-to-nineteen-year-olds. 1,2 Economic Factors And Childhood ObesityChildhood obesity is a complex, multidisciplinary issue, so the search for solutions requires information sharing across many fields. To promote such exchange, this paper describes research findings from the field of economics. Relative to other disciplines, economics has only recently been applied to the study of obesity. As a result, there are many useful applications yet to be made.Economics offers several useful tools for the study of childhood obesity: insights into the economic causes and consequences of obesity, clearly defined rationales for government intervention in markets, and the use of cost-effectiveness analysis for comparing policies to prevent or reduce obesity. This paper summarizes recent research in each of those areas. It concludes by discussing the implications for health policy.Economic explanations for the recent rise in obesity tend to focus on changes that give people incentives to consume more or to burn fewer calories. These include the following.FOOD PRICES The real price of food (the price of food adjusted for inflation across all goods and services) has declined greatly in recent decades. For example, between 1990 and 2007 the real price of a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola fell 34.89 percent, and that of a McDonald's quarter-pounder with cheese fell 5.44 percent.3 Some research indicates that reductions in the price of food account for 41-43 percent of the rise in young adults' body mass index (BMI) between 1981 and 1994. 4 BMI is most sensitive to the price of fast food in particular for youth from families of low socioeconomic status.5 The real price of fruit and vegetables rose 17 percent between 1997 and 2003, 6 an increase that some studies have linked to higher BMI in American children and adolescents. 7,8 AGRICULTURAL POLICIES The decline in the price of food could be due to agriculture policies. However, several studies have concluded that such policies have little impact on consumer prices of energy-dense foods.9,10 About half of farm subsidies are based on historic, not current, production, which limits incentives for farmers to increase output.9 Moreover, U.S. farm policy raises John Cawley (JHC38@cornell .ed...

Partial identification of the long-run causal effect of food security on child health

“…These results are presented in Panel I of Tables A4-A7 in the Appendix. 10 Second, we bound the ATE of being marginally, low, or very low food secure relative to being food secure. These results are presented in Panel II of Tables A4-A7.…”

“…Moreover, the authors estimate that if the entire world had the same BMI distribution as the U.S., this would be equivalent to an additional 935 million people in the world of average BMI. Based on a U.S. poll in 2008, obesity tops the list of health problems children face (Cawley 2010). Globally, the World Health Organization ranks obesity among the top ten global public health issues (WHO 1998).…”

Federal nutrition programs and childhood obesity: inside the black box

“…Among adults, the authors describe the decline in time spent working (in the labor market for males and in productive household activities for females) and the rise in time spent in stationary activities. Cawley (2010) discusses the rise in maternal employment over this time period as well; see also Anderson (2010). Mullahy and Robert (2010) present evidence of a strong (positive) association between education levels and time devoted to physical activity.…”

“…The World Health Organization places obesity among the top ten global public health issues (WHO 1998), and a 2008 nationwide U.S. poll listed obesity as the number one health problem facing children (Cawley 2010). …”

Local Food Prices and Their Associations With Children’s Weight and Food Security

“…10,11 Although general food prices (ie, price per calorie) trended downward in recent decades, particularly the prices of snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages, the real prices of restaurant meals and fruits and vegetables increased, 12 with fruit and vegetable prices increasing by 17% between 1997 and 2003 alone. 13 Experimental work has found that children decrease their consumption of certain foods when the price is increased. 14 Living in areas with higher-priced fast foods and soda is associated with lower body weight and BMI, whereas higher fruit and vegetable prices demonstrate the opposite association.…”