IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-02450319.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Can social programs break the vicious cycle between poverty and obesity?

Author

Listed:
  • Pierre Levasseur

    (SADAPT - Sciences pour l'Action et le Développement : Activités, Produits, Territoires - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - AgroParisTech, GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Departamento de Economía Aplicada - UGR - Universidad de Granada = University of Granada, UMR G-EAU - Gestion de l'Eau, Acteurs, Usages - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - AgroParisTech - IRSTEA - Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier)

Abstract

This article analyzes how social interventions offer a solution to counteract the spread of overweight among the poor. Focusing on the Mexican conditional cash transfers program, we assess the average effect of a long run enrollment on adult body mass index and waist-to-height ratio. An original triple difference approach, which distinguishes over time participants from nonparticipants and stayers from leavers, is implemented. We find that the expansion of this program (to urban areas) has a protective effect on adult bodyweight for staying participants, but not an absolute effect. Moreover, the global impact of the program to reduce obesity is halved due to a low rate of participation in Mexican cities. Furthermore, we find health-risky externalities related to the cash component of the program. Indeed, the amount of cash payments is positively correlated with abdominal fat concentration, especially among enrolled women and for short-run enrollments. To sum up, our results bring new insights to the complementary role of both program components (cash and conditionalities)

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre Levasseur, 2019. "Can social programs break the vicious cycle between poverty and obesity?," Post-Print hal-02450319, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02450319
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.09.003
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02450319
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-02450319/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.09.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hoddinott, John & Skoufias, Emmanuel, 2004. "The Impact of PROGRESA on Food Consumption," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(1), pages 37-61, October.
    2. Smith, Kimberly V. & Goldman, Noreen, 2007. "Socioeconomic differences in health among older adults in Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(7), pages 1372-1385, October.
    3. Jere R. Behrman & Jorge Gallardo-Garc�a & Susan W. Parker & Petra E. Todd & Viviana V�lez-Grajales, 2012. "Are conditional cash transfers effective in urban areas? Evidence from Mexico," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 233-259, February.
    4. Manuela Angelucci & Orazio Attanasio & Vincenzo Di Maro, 2012. "The Impact of Oportunidades on Consumption, Savings and Transfers," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 305-334, September.
    5. González-Flores, Mario & Heracleous, Maria & Winters, Paul, 2012. "Leaving the Safety Net: An Analysis of Dropouts in an Urban Conditional Cash Transfer Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(12), pages 2505-2521.
    6. Ciro Avitabile, 2012. "Does Information Improve the Health Behavior of Adults Targeted by a Conditional Transfer Program?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(3), pages 785-825.
    7. Álvarez, Carola & Devoto, Florencia & Winters, Paul, 2008. "Why do Beneficiaries Leave the Safety Net in Mexico? A Study of the Effects of Conditionality on Dropouts," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 641-658, April.
    8. Kimberly V. Smith & Noreen Goldman, 2007. "Socioeconomic differences in health among older adults in Mexico," Working Papers 283, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Office of Population Research..
    9. John Cawley, 2004. "The Impact of Obesity on Wages," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(2).
    10. Manuela Angelucci & Orazio Attanasio, 2009. "Oportunidades: Program Effect on Consumption, Low Participation, and Methodological Issues," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(3), pages 479-506, April.
    11. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Cawley, John, 2008. "Beyond BMI: The value of more accurate measures of fatness and obesity in social science research," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 519-529, March.
    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. Prakash, Kushneel & Munyanyi, Musharavati Ephraim, 2021. "Energy poverty and obesity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    2. Pierre Levasseur, 2017. "Why conditional cash transfers programs fail to target the poor ? The case of urban Mexico," Post-Print hal-02273901, HAL.
    3. Pierre Levasseur & François Mariotti & Isabelle Denis & Olga Davidenko, 2022. "The association between meat consumption and body mass index varies according to the socioeconomic status in a representative sample of French adults," Working Papers hal-03744721, HAL.
    4. Bertille Daran & Pierre Levasseur, 2022. "Is overweight still a problem of rich in sub-Saharan Africa? Insights based on female-oriented demographic and health surveys," Post-Print hal-03511042, HAL.
    5. Levasseur, Pierre, 2021. "Why do conditional cash transfer programmes fail to target the poor? The case of urban areas in Mexico," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    6. Clément, Matthieu & Levasseur, Pierre & Seetahul, Suneha & Piaser, Lucie, 2021. "Does inequality have a silver lining? Municipal income inequality and obesity in Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    7. Nagano, Hitoshi & Puppim de Oliveira, Jose A. & Barros, Allan Kardec & Costa Junior, Altair da Silva, 2020. "The ‘Heart Kuznets Curve’? Understanding the relations between economic development and cardiac conditions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    8. Daran, Bertille & Levasseur, Pierre, 2022. "Is overweight still a problem of rich in sub-Saharan Africa? Insights based on female-oriented demographic and health surveys," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).

    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. Levasseur, Pierre, 2019. "Can social programs break the vicious cycle between poverty and obesity? Evidence from urban Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 143-156.
    2. Pierre Levasseur, 2017. "Why conditional cash transfers programs fail to target the poor ? The case of urban Mexico," Post-Print hal-02273901, HAL.
    3. Levasseur, Pierre, 2015. "Causal effects of socioeconomic status on central adiposity risks: Evidence using panel data from urban Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 136, pages 165-174.
    4. Balmori de la Miyar, Jose Roberto, 2018. "The effect of conditional cash transfers on reporting violence against women to the police in Mexico," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 73-91.
    5. LEVASSEUR Pierre, 2015. "Causal effects of socioeconomic status on central adiposity: Evidence using panel data from urban Mexico," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2015-09, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    6. Pfutze, Tobias, 2019. "Should program graduation be better targeted? The other schooling outcomes of Mexico’s Oportunidades," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Juan M. Villa & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, 2019. "Poverty dynamics and graduation from conditional cash transfers: a transition model for Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera program," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(2), pages 219-251, June.
    8. Levasseur, Pierre, 2021. "Why do conditional cash transfer programmes fail to target the poor? The case of urban areas in Mexico," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    9. Md. Alauddin Majumder, 2013. "Does Obesity Matter for Wages? Evidence from the United States," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 32(2), pages 200-217, June.
    10. von Hinke Kessler Scholder S, 2009. "Genetic Markers as Instrumental Variables: An Application to Child Fat Mass and Academic Achievement," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/25, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    11. Donal O'Neill & Olive Sweetman, 2013. "Estimating Obesity Rates in Europe in the Presence of Self-Reporting Errors," Economics Department Working Paper Series n236-13.pdf, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    12. Martin, Molly A. & Lippert, Adam M., 2012. "Feeding her children, but risking her health: The intersection of gender, household food insecurity and obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(11), pages 1754-1764.
    13. Lauber, Verena & Thomas, Lampert, 2014. "The Effect of Early Universal Daycare on Child Weight Problems," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100399, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2016. "Does Leaving School in an Economic Downturn Persistently Affect Body Weight? Evidence from Panel Data," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 122-148, January.
    15. Brunello, Giorgio & D'Hombres, Beatrice, 2007. "Does body weight affect wages?: Evidence from Europe," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 1-19, March.
    16. Böckerman, Petri & Vainiomäki, Jari, 2013. "Stature and life-time labor market outcomes: Accounting for unobserved differences," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 86-96.
    17. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11535 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Kronebusch, Natalie & Damon, Amy, 2019. "The impact of conditional cash transfers on nutrition outcomes: Experimental evidence from Mexico," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 169-180.
    19. Stoddard, Pamela & Handley, Margaret A. & Vargas Bustamante, Arturo & Schillinger, Dean, 2011. "The influence of indigenous status and community indigenous composition on obesity and diabetes among Mexican adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(11), pages 1635-1643.
    20. Vincenzo Atella & Joanna Kopinska, 2011. "Body weight of Italians: the weight of Education," CEIS Research Paper 189, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 23 Mar 2011.
    21. Averett, Susan L. & Smith, Julie K., 2014. "Financial hardship and obesity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 201-212.

    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:hal:journl:hal-02450319. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.