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An Empirical Investigation of Obesity & Income and Education

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  • Ozyapi, Sena

Abstract

Rising trends in obesity epidemic have become a serious issue for states and policymakers. Earlier studies in the medical literature have discussed the impacts of income and education levels on obesity prevalence to detect the importance of socioeconomic patterns. Recently, in the economic literature, there are studies that investigate poverty-obesity paradox. In this study, using a cross-sectional data set covering 31 countries from Eurostat for 2014, we estimate the effects of income and education levels on obesity prevalence among different age groups and countries of origin. Our results show that increasing education and income have a significant and negative influence on obesity prevalence. In addition, we found that obesity is less likely to occur in countries with higher social welfare spending.

Suggested Citation

  • Ozyapi, Sena, 2019. "An Empirical Investigation of Obesity & Income and Education," MPRA Paper 98727, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 12 Aug 2019.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:98727
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lakdawalla, Darius & Philipson, Tomas, 2009. "The growth of obesity and technological change," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 283-293, December.
    2. Zhang, Qi & Wang, Youfa, 2004. "Socioeconomic inequality of obesity in the United States: do gender, age, and ethnicity matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(6), pages 1171-1180, March.
    3. Salmasi, Luca & Celidoni, Martina, 2017. "Investigating the poverty-obesity paradox in Europe," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 70-85.
    4. Powell, Lisa M., 2009. "Fast food costs and adolescent body mass index: Evidence from panel data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 963-970, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Obesity; Body Mass Index; Income; Education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I29 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Other
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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