IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/lunewp/2013_023.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Freer the Fatter? A Panel Study of the Relationship between Body-Mass Index and Economic Freedom

Author

Listed:

Abstract

Along with the economic and technological developments of the past decades, obesity has become a growing public health problem. This study empirically investigates whether the large and widespread increases in body-mass index (BMI) that have been observed around the world are related to economic freedom, as measured and defined by the Economic Freedom of the World Index. Economic freedom is part of the environment in which individuals make choices about food intake and physical activity, and may encourage unhealthy behavior and affect body weight by changing the opportunity sets. It may for example affect the quality and quantity of foods available to consumers, the access to safety nets, and the access to environments for physical activity. The empirical analysis is based on a panel of 31 high-income countries and data for the period 1983 to 2008. It finds a positive and statistically significant relationship between the level of economic freedom and both the level of, and five-year change in, BMI. Decomposing the freedom index into sub-indices measuring economic freedom in five sub-areas (government, legal structure, sound money, trade, and regulations) shows that freedom in the regulations dimension is the most consistent contributor to this result.

Suggested Citation

  • Ljungvall, Åsa, 2013. "The Freer the Fatter? A Panel Study of the Relationship between Body-Mass Index and Economic Freedom," Working Papers 2013:23, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2013_023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://project.nek.lu.se/publications/workpap/papers/WP13_23.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Haan, Jakob & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2000. "On the relationship between economic freedom and economic growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 215-241, June.
    2. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2012. "Understanding overeating and obesity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 781-796.
    3. Chandon, Pierre & Wansink, Brian, 2011. "Is Food Marketing Making Us Fat? A Multi-Disciplinary Review," Foundations and Trends(R) in Marketing, now publishers, vol. 5(3), pages 113-196, July.
    4. Berggren, Niclas, 2003. "The Benefits of Economic Freedom: A Survey," Ratio Working Papers 4, The Ratio Institute.
    5. Ljungvall, Åsa & Gerdtham, Ulf-G., 2010. "More equal but heavier: A longitudinal analysis of income-related obesity inequalities in an adult Swedish cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 221-231, January.
    6. Smith Trenton G. & Stoddard Christiana & Barnes Michael G, 2009. "Why the Poor Get Fat: Weight Gain and Economic Insecurity," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 1-31, June.
    7. Jessica Wisdom & Julie S. Downs & George Loewenstein, 2010. "Promoting Healthy Choices: Information versus Convenience," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 164-178, April.
    8. Fabrice Etilé, 2007. "Social norms, ideal body weight and food attitudes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(9), pages 945-966, September.
    9. Sara Bleich & David Cutler & Christopher Murray & Alyce Adams, 2007. "Why Is The Developed World Obese?," NBER Working Papers 12954, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Stroup, Michael D., 2007. "Economic Freedom, Democracy, and the Quality of Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 52-66, January.
    11. Franco Sassi, 2010. "Obesity and the Economics of Prevention," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14244.
    12. Dawson, John W., 2003. "Causality in the freedom-growth relationship," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 479-495, September.
    13. Maria L. Loureiro & Rodolfo M. Nayga, 2005. "International Dimensions of Obesity and Overweight Related Problems: An Economics Perspective," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(5), pages 1147-1153.
    14. Giovanni S. F. Bruno, 2005. "Estimation and inference in dynamic unbalanced panel-data models with a small number of individuals," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 5(4), pages 473-500, December.
    15. Ljungvall, Åsa & Zimmerman, Frederick J., 2012. "Bigger bodies: Long-term trends and disparities in obesity and body-mass index among U.S. adults, 1960–2008," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 109-119.
    16. Paul Anand & Alastair Gray, 2009. "Obesity as Market Failure: Could a ‘Deliberative Economy’ Overcome the Problems of Paternalism?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 182-190, April.
    17. Tracy, Melissa & Kruk, Margaret E. & Harper, Christine & Galea, Sandro, 2010. "Neo-liberal economic practices and population health: a cross-national analysis, 1980–2004," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(2), pages 171-199, April.
    18. Offer, Avner & Pechey, Rachel & Ulijaszek, Stanley, 2010. "Obesity under affluence varies by welfare regimes: The effect of fast food, insecurity, and inequality," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 297-308, December.
    19. Offer, Avner & Pechey, Rachel & Ulijaszek, Stanley, 2010. "Obesity under affluence varies by welfare regimes: The effect of fast food, insecurity, and inequality," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 297-308, December.
    20. Truong, K.D. & Sturm, R., 2005. "Weight gain trends across sociodemographic groups in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(9), pages 1602-1606.
    21. Ann L. Owen & Stephen Wu, 2007. "Is Trade Good for Your Health?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(4), pages 660-682, September.
    22. Egger, Garry & Swinburn, Boyd & Amirul Islam, F.M., 2012. "Economic growth and obesity: An interesting relationship with world-wide implications," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 147-153.
    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. Boysen, Ole & Boysen-Urban, Kirsten & Bradford, Harvey & Balié, Jean, 2019. "Taxing highly processed foods: What could be the impacts on obesity and underweight in sub-Saharan Africa?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 55-67.
    2. Costa-Font, Joan & Mas, Núria, 2016. "‘Globesity’? The effects of globalization on obesity and caloric intake," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 121-132.
    3. Boysen, O. & Bradford, H. & Urban, K. & Balie, J., 2018. "Taxing Highly Processed Foods: Impacts on Obesity and Underweight in Sub-Saharan Africa," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 275990, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Eileen Africa & Odelia Van Stryp & Martin Musálek, 2021. "The Influence of Cultural Experiences on the Associations between Socio-Economic Status and Motor Performance as Well as Body Fat Percentage of Grade One Learners in Cape Town, South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Joshua C. Hall & Brad R. Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski, 2018. "Economic Freedom and Exercise: Evidence from State Outcomes," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(4), pages 1050-1066, April.
    6. Joshua C. Hall & Brad R. Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski, 2015. "Economic Freedom and Participation in Physical Activity," Working Papers 15-17, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.

    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. Currie, Phillippa & Smith, Trenton G. & Stillman, Steven, 2014. "Is Job Insecurity Making Australians Fat? Evidence from Panel Data on Perceived Risk of Job Loss," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170720, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Henryk Gurgul & Łukasz Lach, 2011. "The Nexus between Improvements in Economic Freedom and Growth: Evidence from CEE Countries in Transition," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 3(3), pages 133-168, September.
    3. Staudigel, Matthias, 2016. "A soft pillow for hard times? Economic insecurity, food intake and body weight in Russia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 198-212.
    4. Gurgul, Henryk & Lach, Łukasz, 2011. "The nexus between economic freedom and growth: Evidence from CEE countries in transition," MPRA Paper 37434, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Kešeljević, Aleksandar & Spruk, Rok, 2013. "Global distribution and dynamics of economic freedom: Non-parametric approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 560-571.
    6. Smith, Trenton G. & Stillman, Steven & Craig, Stuart, 2013. "The U.S. Obesity Epidemic:New Evidence from the Economic Security Index," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 151419, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. José Aixalá & Gema Fabro, 2009. "Economic freedom, civil liberties, political rights and growth: a causality analysis," Spanish Economic Review, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 165-178, September.
    8. Nicholas Rohde & KK Tang & Lars Osberg, 2017. "The self-reinforcing dynamics of economic insecurity and obesity," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(17), pages 1668-1678, April.
    9. Bernur Acikgoz & Anthony Amoah Author-Email: a.amoah@uea.ac.uk & Mine Yılmazer, 2016. "Economic Freedom and Growth: A Panel Cointegration Approach," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 63(5), pages 541-562, December.
    10. Malgorzata Zielenkiewicz, 2014. "Institutional Environment In The Context Of Development Of Sustainable Society In The European Union Countries," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 9(1), pages 21-37, March.
    11. Ceyhun Haydaroglu, 2016. "The Effect of Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Freedom on Economic Growth: The Case of BRICS Countries," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, June.
    12. Ferda Halicioglu, 2013. "Dynamics of obesity in Finland," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 40(5), pages 644-657, October.
    13. Niklas Potrafke, 2013. "Economic Freedom and Government Ideology across the German States," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(3), pages 433-449, March.
    14. Costa-Font, Joan & Mas, Núria, 2016. "‘Globesity’? The effects of globalization on obesity and caloric intake," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 121-132.
    15. Gehring, Kai, 2013. "Who Benefits from Economic Freedom? Unraveling the Effect of Economic Freedom on Subjective Well-Being," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 74-90.
    16. Costa-Font, Joan & Hernández-Quevedo, Cristina & Jiménez-Rubio, Dolores, 2014. "Income inequalities in unhealthy life styles in England and Spain," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 66-75.
    17. Bodo Knoll & Hans Pitlik & Martin Rode, 2013. "Economic Freedom, Money and Happiness – Why Deregulation Matters Beyond its Wealth Enhancing Effect," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 11(2), pages 35-42, 07.
    18. Compton, Ryan A. & Giedeman, Daniel C. & Hoover, Gary A., 2011. "Panel evidence on economic freedom and growth in the United States," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 423-435, September.
    19. Kubickova Marketa, 2016. "The Role of Government in Tourism: Linking Competitiveness, Freedom, and Developing Economies," Czech Journal of Tourism, Sciendo, vol. 5(2), pages 73-92, December.
    20. Nancy Kong & Lars Osberg & Weina Zhou, 2018. "The Shattered “Iron Rice Bowl”— Intergenerational Effects of Economic Insecurity During Chinese State-Owned Enterprise Reform," Discussion Papers Series 595, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    body-mass index; obesity; economic freedom; economic freedom of the world index; health production; panel;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • P10 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hhs:lunewp:2013_023. 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: Prakriti Thami (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/delunse.html .

    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.