An economic analysis of adult obesity: Results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Authors

Shin Yi Chou, National Bureau of Economic Research
Michael Grossman, National Bureau of Economic Research
Henry Saffer, National Bureau of Economic Research

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2004

Abstract

This paper examines the factors that may be responsible for the 50% increase in the number of obese adults in the US since the late 1970s. We employ the 1984-1999 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, augmented with state level measures pertaining to the per capita number of fast-food and full-service restaurants, the prices of a meal in each type of restaurant, food consumed at home, cigarettes, and alcohol, and clean indoor air laws. Our main results are that these variables have the expected effects on obesity and explain a substantial amount of its trend. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Publication Title

Journal of Health Economics

First Page Number

565

Last Page Number

587

DOI

10.1016/j.jhealeco.2003.10.003

Recommended Citation

Chou, Shin Yi; Grossman, Michael; and Saffer, Henry, "An economic analysis of adult obesity: Results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System" (2004). Kean Publications. 2651.
https://digitalcommons.kean.edu/keanpublications/2651