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A soft pillow for hard times? Economic insecurity, food intake and body weight in Russia

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  • Staudigel, Matthias

Abstract

This study investigates causal effects of economic insecurity on subjective anxiety, food intake, and weight outcomes. A review of psychological and nutrition studies highlights the complexity of processes at work on each stage of this causal chain. Econometric analyses trace the effects along the hypothesized pathway using detailed household panel data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey from 1994 to 2005. Economic insecurity measures serve as key explanatory variables in regressions and are instrumented by exogenous regional indicators. Results support a causal chain from economic insecurity to weight outcomes for some population subgroups. In contrast to the leading hypothesis that economic insecurity increases body weight, I find strong evidence of a decreasing effect among women. Results suggest further that consumption of foods rich in sugar responds strongly to higher levels of economic insecurity. Heterogeneous impacts of economic insecurity on body weight call for individual-level interventions rather than large-scale action.

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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:50:y:2016:i:c:p:198-212
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2016.09.001
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kong, Nancy & Phipps, Shelley & Watson, Barry, 2021. "Parental economic insecurity and child health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    3. von Hinke, Stephanie & Leckie, George, 2017. "Protecting energy intakes against income shocks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 210-232.
    4. Zasimova, Liudmila, 2022. "The association between fast-food consumption and job-related factors among Russian adults," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    5. Trenton G. Smith & Steven Stillman & Stuart Craig, 2024. "“Rational overeating” in a feast‐or‐famine world: Economic insecurity and the obesity epidemic," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 90(3), pages 634-655, January.
    6. Dmitry Petrov & Marina Romaguera-de-la-Cruz, 2023. "Measuring economic insecurity with a joint income-wealth approach," Working Papers 637, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    7. Dragone, Davide & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2017. "Non-separable time preferences, novelty consumption and body weight: Theory and evidence from the East German transition to capitalism," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 41-65.
    8. Watson, Barry & Daley, Angela & Rohde, Nicholas & Osberg, Lars, 2020. "Blown off-course? Weight gain among the economically insecure during the great recession," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    9. Gao, Yuan & Lopez, Rigoberto A. & Liao, Ruili & Liu, Xiaoou, 2022. "Public health shocks, learning and diet improvement," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    10. Cantó, Olga & García-Pérez, Carmelo & Romaguera-de-la-Cruz, Marina, 2020. "The dimension, nature and distribution of economic insecurity in European countries: A multidimensional approach," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(3).
    11. Marina Romaguera‐de‐la‐Cruz, 2020. "Measuring Economic Insecurity Using a Counting Approach. An Application to Three EU Countries," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(3), pages 558-583, September.
    12. Guariglia, Alessandra & Monahan, Mark & Pickering, Karen & Roberts, Tracy, 2021. "Financial health and obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    13. Rohde, Nicholas & Tang, Kam Ki & D’Ambrosio, Conchita & Osberg, Lars & Rao, Prasada, 2020. "Welfare-based income insecurity in the us and germany: evidence from harmonized panel data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 226-243.
    14. Olga Cantó & Carmelo García-Pérez & Marina Romaguera de la Cruz, 2021. "Multidimensional Measures of Economic Insecurity in Spain: The Role of Aggregation and Weighting Methods," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 238(3), pages 29-60, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic insecurity; Food intake; Body weight; Instrumental variables; RLMS;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality

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