No sooner had I uploaded my previous post than I followed the reference and found the following, less surprising I think but still useful lessons for us all … including policymakers.
The connection between petrol prices and obesity
I find evidence of a negative association between gasoline prices and body weight using a fixed effects model with several robustness checks. I also show that increases in gas prices are associated with additional walking and a reduction in the frequency with which people eat at restaurants, explaining their effect on weight. My estimates imply that 8% of the rise in obesity between 1979 and 2004 can be attributed to the concurrent drop in real gas prices, and that a permanent $1 increase in gasoline prices would reduce overweight and obesity in the US by 7% and 10%.
Citation
Charles Courtemanche. "A Silver Lining? The Connection Between Gasoline Prices and Obesity" Economic Inquiry (2010).
I am not sure the following is as clear cut as anyone who has stopped smoking knows, an increase in weight usually follows. I present here anyway since the author has done the research and I have not!
Rising Cigarette Prices and Rising Obesity
Economists have begun to debate if the rise in cigarette prices in the US in recent decades has contributed to the nation's rise in obesity, reaching conclusions that are surprisingly sensitive to specification. I show that allowing for the effect to occur gradually over several years leads to the conclusion that a rise in cigarette prices is actually associated with a long-run reduction in body mass index and obesity. This result is robust to the different methodologies used in the literature. I also provide evidence that indirect effects on exercise and food consumption may explain the counterintuitive result.
Citation
Charles Courtemanche. "Rising Cigarette Prices and Rising Obesity: Coincidence or Unintended Consequence?" Journal of Health Economics(2009).
DW
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