IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/blkpoe/v42y2015i3p201-209.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Obesity and Social Inequality in America

Author

Listed:
  • Kristen Broady
  • Aisha Meeks

Abstract

In the United States food has become a weapon for social control. Hunger and conversely obesity have contributed to the subjugation of underserved populations and served to perpetuate social inequality. This research provides an analysis of the literature on factors that influence obesity rates, however the question of why these factors play a significant role probes deeper into the political and social structures that lend themselves to such inequities. Obesity rates have historically been higher in Southern states, leading to a consideration of historical food preparation and consumption practices and the intergenerational transmission of food culture. This study uses ordinary least squares regression and data from the Centers for Disease Control, and Prevention (CDC), the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Census to examine the factors that influence state level obesity rates. The results indicate a significant positive correlation between Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) assistance and the obesity rate. Lack of physical activity and the percentage of African American residents are also significantly correlated with the level of obesity. In contrast healthy food outlets within a half-mile of the residence appear to be associated with lower levels of obesity. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Kristen Broady & Aisha Meeks, 2015. "Obesity and Social Inequality in America," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 201-209, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:blkpoe:v:42:y:2015:i:3:p:201-209
    DOI: 10.1007/s12114-014-9202-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s12114-014-9202-1
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12114-014-9202-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tomas Philipson, 2001. "The world‐wide growth in obesity: an economic research agenda," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(1), pages 1-7, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nathalie Mathieu‐Bolh, 2022. "The elusive link between income and obesity," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 935-968, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlin, Paul S. & Kidd, Michael P. & Ulubaşoğlu, Mehmet A., 2013. "Does legal heritage affect obesity? The channel of motor vehicle dependence," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 621-633.
    2. Sriparna Ghosh & Joshua C. Hall, 2018. "The Political Economy of Soda Taxation," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(2), pages 1045-1051.
    3. Luisa Corrado & Roberta Distante & Majlinda Joxhe, 2019. "Body mass index and social interactions from adolescence to adulthood," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 425-445, October.
    4. Jaume Garcia Villar & Climent Quintana, 2005. "Body size, activity, employment and wages in Europe: A first approach," Economics Working Papers 897, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised May 2006.
    5. Salahodjaev, Raufhon & Azam, Sardor, 2015. "IQ and the Weight of Nations," MPRA Paper 66144, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Harris, Matthew C. & Cronin, Christopher J., 2017. "The effects of prospective mate quality on investments in healthy body weight among single women," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 164-183.
    7. 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.
    8. Kristjana Baldursdottir & Paul McNamee & Edward C. Norton & Tinna Laufey Asgeirsdottir, 2023. "Life satisfaction and body mass index: estimating the monetary value of achieving optimal body weight," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1215-1246, December.
    9. García Villar, Jaume & Quintana-Domeque, Climent, 2009. "Income and body mass index in Europe," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 73-83, March.
    10. Borghans, Lex & Golsteyn, Bart H.H., 2006. "Time discounting and the body mass index: Evidence from the Netherlands," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 39-61, January.
    11. Adriana Barone & Cristian Barra, 2022. "Weight Status and Depression in Italy: Evidence from the Second Wave of the European Health Interview Survey," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 34(2), pages 193-227, July.
    12. Goryakin, Yevgeniy & Lobstein, Tim & James, W. Philip T. & Suhrcke, Marc, 2015. "The impact of economic, political and social globalization on overweight and obesity in the 56 low and middle income countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 67-76.
    13. Boizot-Szantai, Christine & Etile, Fabrice, 2005. "The Food Prices / Body Mass Index Relationship: Theory and Evidence from a Sample of French Adults," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24734, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Farrell, Lisa & Hollingsworth, Bruce & Propper, Carol & Shields, Michael A., 2014. "The socioeconomic gradient in physical inactivity: Evidence from one million adults in England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 55-63.
    15. Pieroni, Luca & Salmasi, Luca, 2010. "Body weight and socio-economic determinants: quantile estimations from the British Household Panel Survey," ISER Working Paper Series 2010-41, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    16. Charles L. Baum, 2009. "The effects of cigarette costs on BMI and obesity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 3-19, January.
    17. 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, July.
    18. Inas Rashad & Michael Grossman & Shin-Yi Chou, 2006. "The Super Size of America: An Economic Estimation of Body Mass Index and Obesity in Adults," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 32(1), pages 133-148, Winter.
    19. Fioriti, Linda & Marchini, Andrea & Diotallevi, Francesco & Pampanini, Rossella, 2012. "Obesity Epidemics: The Potential Role of Retailing Sector in Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Consumption," 2012 International European Forum, February 13-17, 2012, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 144964, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.
    20. Darius Lakdawalla & Tomas Philipson, 2002. "The Growth of Obesity and Technological Change: A Theoretical and Empirical Examination," Working Papers 0203, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Obesity; Race; Physical activity;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:blkpoe:v:42:y:2015:i:3:p:201-209. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.