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More equal but heavier: A longitudinal analysis of income-related obesity inequalities in an adult Swedish cohort

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  • Ljungvall, Åsa
  • Gerdtham, Ulf-G.

Abstract

Using longitudinal data over a 17-year period for a Swedish cohort aged 20-68 in 1980/1981, this study analyses income-related inequalities in obesity. By using the concentration index and decomposition techniques we answer the following questions: 1) Does obesity inequality disfavour the poor? 2) What factors explain the inequality at different points in time? 3) What explains the change in inequality between years? We find that among females, inequalities in obesity favour the rich, but the inequality declines over time. Income itself is the main driving force behind obesity inequality, whereas being single (as opposed to being married or cohabiting) is an important counteracting factor. The main reason for the reduced obesity inequality over time is increased obesity prevalence, because in absolute terms obesity has increased uniformly across income groups. Because the income elasticity of obesity is the single most important contributor to the inequality, policies directed towards this factor might be the most effective for reducing obesity inequality. Our main income variable is within-individual mean of income, and we thereby focus on long-run inequality and are able to standardize for income mobility. The results show that inequality based on short-run income differs substantially from inequality based on long-run income. For males we find similar inequality trends as for women, although less pronounced. This difference between men and women should be taken into account when evaluating obesity reducing policies.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Social Science & Medicine.

Volume (Year): 70 (2010)
Issue (Month): 2 (January)
Pages: 221-231

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Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:70:y:2010:i:2:p:221-231

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Keywords: Sweden Gender Obesity Income Inequality Concentration index Decomposition Change;

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References

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  1. Smith, Patricia K. & Bogin, Barry & Bishai, David, 2005. "Are time preference and body mass index associated?: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 259-270, July.
  2. Costa-Font, Joan & Gil, Joan, 2008. "What lies behind socio-economic inequalities in obesity in Spain A decomposition approach," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 61-73, February.
  3. Carol Propper, 2004. "Why Economics is good for your health - 2004 Royal Economic Society Public Lecture," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 05/116, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
  4. Timothy J. Richards & Paul M. Patterson & Abebayehu Tegene, 2007. "Obesity And Nutrient Consumption: A Rational Addiction?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 25(3), pages 309-324, 07.
  5. Islam, M. Kamrul & Merlo, Juan & Kawachi, Ichiro & Lindstr m, Martin & Burstr m, Kristina & Gerdtham, Ulf-G., 2006. "Does it really matter where you live? A panel data multilevel analysis of Swedish municipality-level social capital on individual health-related quality of life," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(03), pages 209-235, July.
  6. Schroeter, Christiane & Lusk, Jayson & Tyner, Wallace, 2008. "Determining the impact of food price and income changes on body weight," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 45-68, January.
  7. Gerdtham, Ulf-G & Johannesson, Magnus, 2002. " Do Life-Saving Regulations Save Lives?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 231-49, May.
  8. Darius Lakdawalla & Tomas Philipson & Jay Bhattacharya, 2005. "Welfare-Enhancing Technological Change and the Growth of Obesity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 253-257, May.
  9. Wagstaff, Adam & Van Doorslaer, Eddy & Watanabe, Naoko, 2001. "On decomposing the causes of health sector inequalities with an application to malnutrition inequalities in Vietnam," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2714, The World Bank.
  10. Shin-Yi Chou & Michael Grossman & Henry Saffer, 2002. "An Economic Analysis of Adult Obesity: Results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System," NBER Working Papers 9247, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  11. Kakwani, Nanak & Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1997. "Socioeconomic inequalities in health: Measurement, computation, and statistical inference," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 87-103, March.
  12. Adam Wagstaff, 2005. "The bounds of the concentration index when the variable of interest is binary, with an application to immunization inequality," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(4), pages 429-432.
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Cited by:
  1. Johnston, D.W.; & Lordan, G.;, 2012. "My body is fat and my wallet is thin: The link between weight perceptions, weight control and income," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 12/27, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
  2. David Madden, 2011. "The Impact of an Economic Boom on the Level and Distribution of Subjective Well-Being: Ireland, 1994–2001," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 667-679, August.

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