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Do the Obese Really Die Younger or Do Health Expenditures Buy Them Extra Years?

Author

Listed:
  • Frijters, Paul

    (London School of Economics)

  • Barón, Juan D.

    (World Bank)

Abstract

A recent debate in the medical literature has arisen around the mortality effects of obesity. Whereas it has been argued that the obese die younger, the data that have become available do not immediately support this. This potentially undermines the hypothesis that modern life with its physical ease and cheap food would eventually make us die younger, and undermines the notion that economic growth comes with health warnings. We revisit this debate going over the mortality effects of obesity, using the US Health and Retirement Study. Whilst we find that obesity leads to chronic diseases that reduce length of life, we also find that the obese survive strokes and lung disease more often than the non-obese. A possible explanation is that the obese are under greater medical scrutiny, meaning that lung disease is more quickly diagnosed. This result holds when controlling for smoking and the long-term effects of obesity.

Suggested Citation

  • Frijters, Paul & Barón, Juan D., 2009. "Do the Obese Really Die Younger or Do Health Expenditures Buy Them Extra Years?," IZA Discussion Papers 4149, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4149
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. David M. Cutler & Edward Glaeser, 2005. "What Explains Differences in Smoking, Drinking, and Other Health-Related Behaviors?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 238-242, May.
    3. Flegal, K.M., 2007. "The effects of changes in smoking prevalence on obesity prevalence in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(8), pages 1510-1514.
    4. David Briggs & Daniela Fecht & Kees De Hoogh, 2007. "Census data issues for epidemiology and health risk assessment: experiences from the Small Area Health Statistics Unit," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(2), pages 355-378, March.
    5. Flegal, K.M. & Williamson, D.F. & Pamuk, E.R. & Rosenberg, H.M., 2004. "Estimating deaths attributable to obesity in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(9), pages 1486-1489.
    6. Glaeser, Edward & Cutler, David, 2005. "What Explains Differences in Smoking, Drinking, and Other Health Related Behaviors," Scholarly Articles 2664274, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. The Mental Health puzzle, part IV: the economic hypothesis.
      by Paul Frijters in Club Troppo on 2013-06-11 06:09:58
    2. The Mental Health puzzle, part IV: the economic hypothesis.
      by ? in Core Economics on 2013-06-11 07:09:00
    3. The Mental Health puzzle, part IV: the economic hypothesis.
      by Paul Frijters in Core Economics on 2013-06-11 06:09:26

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    obesity; longitudinal data; mortality; smoking; reverse-causality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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