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The Rise in Obesity Across the Atlantic: An Economic Perspective

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Author Info
Giorgio Brunello
Pierre-Carl Michaud
Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano

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Abstract

The authors provide comparable evidence on the patterns and trends in obesity across the Atlantic and analyze whether there are economic rationales for public intervention to control obesity. They take into account equity issues as well as efficiency considerations, which are organized around three categories of market failures: productive inefficiencies, lack of information or rationality and health insurance externalities. They also calculate the long term financial consequences of current U.S. and European obesity trends, and conclude with a brief review of current policies to reduce and prevent excessive body weight both in Europe and the U.S.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by RAND Corporation Publications Department in its series Working Papers with number 586.

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Length: 67 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2008
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Handle: RePEc:ran:wpaper:586

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Related research
Keywords: obesity; health care costs; efficiency; equity;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics

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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald & Bert Van Landeghem, 2008. "Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility," NBER Working Papers 14337, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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