Childhood obesity and the income gradient: evidence from Australia

This article examines the dynamic nature of human capital formation in the context of childhood obesity and the association of household income and childhood obesity in Australia using the first five waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Our results show a strong evidence of dynamic nature of child obesity: the lag obesity is a significant and robust predictor of obesity in the current period. We also found that the main channel for childhood obesity is inter-generational trait: the probability of obesity in children born to an obese mother or father is 15% higher than that of other children. Other important determinants are lifestyle factors, including the consumption of drinks with a high sugar content and the amount of time watching TV. Income becomes an insignificant determinant of childhood obesity once we control for unobserved individual heterogeneity.     

CAN SOFT DRINK TAXES REDUCE POPULATION WEIGHT?

Soft drink consumption has been hypothesized as one of the major factors in the growing rates of obesity in the United States. Nearly two-thirds of all states currently tax soft drinks using excise taxes, sales taxes, or special exceptions to food exemptions from sales taxes to reduce consumption of this product, raise revenue, and improve public health. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of changes in state soft drink taxes on body mass index (BMI), obesity, and overweight. Our results suggest that soft drink taxes influence BMI, but that the impact is small in magnitude. ( JEL I18, H75)     

ARE TELEVISION AND VIDEO GAMES REALLY HARMFUL FOR KIDS?

Are watching television (TV) and playing video games really harmful for children's development? By using a unique longitudinal dataset with detailed information on children's development and health, we examined the causal effect of hours of TV watched or of video games played on school‐aged children's problem behavior, orientation to school, and obesity. The results suggested that the answer to the question is yes, but the magnitude of the effect is sufficiently small to be considered as negligible. The results were robust to within‐twin‐fixed effects. (JEL I10, I20)     

The relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity: a nonparametric analysis

Childhood obesity and food insecurity are major public health concerns in the United States and other developed countries. Research on the relationship between the two has provided mixed results across a variety of data sets and empirical methods. Common throughout this research, however, is the use of parametric frameworks for empirical analyses. This study moves beyond parametric methods by examining the relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity among low-income children with nonparametric regression techniques. We examine data from the Child Development Supplement (CDS) of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), a nationally representative data set from the US. Consistent with recent work, our parametric analyses indicate that there is no statistically significant relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity. In contrast, our nonparametric results indicate that the probability of being obese varies markedly with the level of food insecurity being experienced by the child. Moreover, this relationship differs across relevant subgroups including those defined by gender, race/ethnicity and income. Fully understanding the relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity has significant policy implications.     

EFFECTS OF HEALTH RISK INFORMATION ON ADDICTIVE GOODS CONSUMPTION: A CASE OF TOBACCO,ALCOHOL, AND BETEL NUTS IN TAIWAN

This paper empirically investigates the relationship between the dissemination of information about the health risks of tobacco, alcohol, and betel nuts and their consumption in Taiwan. To estimate cross‐elasticities, the paper uses the Central Bureau of Statistics demand system model. Empirical results indicate that an increase in the dissemination of information on the health risks of tobacco, alcohol, and betel nuts substantially reduces real consumption. Empirical evidence from the cross‐elasticity of price also confirms that a complementary relationship exists in Taiwan among these three addictive products. (JEL D12, Q11, H26)     

DOES TELEVISION VIEWING AFFECT CHILDREN'S BEHAVIOUR?

Using three‐period panel data drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we investigate whether television (TV) viewing at ages 6–7 and 8–9 years affects children's social and behavioural development at ages 8–9 years. Dynamic panel data models are estimated to handle the unobserved child‐specific factor, endogeneity of TV viewing, and the dynamic nature of the causal relation. Special emphasis is placed on this last aspect, focusing on how early TV viewing affects interim child behavioural problems and in turn affects future TV viewing. Overall, we find that TV viewing during ages 6–7 and 8–9 years increases child behavioural problems at ages 8–9 years, and that the effect is economically sizable.     

Calories,obesity and health in OECD countries

Theoretical models suggest that decisions about diet, weight and health status are endogenous within a utility maximization framework. In this article, we model these behavioural relationships in a fixed-effect panel setting using a simultaneous equation system, with a view to determining whether economic variables can explain the trends in calorie consumption, obesity and health in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and the large differences among the countries. The empirical model shows that progress in medical treatment and health expenditure mitigates mortality from diet-related diseases, despite rising obesity rates. While the model accounts for endogeneity and serial correlation, results are affected by data limitations.     

STILL “SAVING BABIES”? THE IMPACT OF CHILD MEDICAID EXPANSIONS ON HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION RATES

The decoupling of child Medicaid from the cash welfare system greatly increased access to public health insurance for low‐income children in the United States. In this paper, I show that the federally mandated public health insurance expansions of the late‐1980s and early‐1990s significantly increased the number of public high school completers in the 2000s. Using the legislated generosity of a state's child Medicaid program as a time‐varying, exogenous source of variation in a quasi‐experimental design, I find substantively large declines in the dropout rate and, importantly, large increases in traditional 4‐year graduation rates. Results for both measures are driven by Hispanic and White students, the two groups experiencing the greatest within‐group increases in eligibility due to the decoupling of child Medicaid from the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. In addition, I find evidence that increases in the length of childhood years covered (e.g., through age 5 vs. through age 17) leads to greater gains in completion rates. This suggests that public health insurance coverage throughout childhood produces the largest effect. (JEL C23, H51, H52, H75, I21)     

Energy consumption,employment, output,and temporal causality: evidence from Taiwan based on cointegration and error-correction modelling techniques

In this study, a cointegration analysis and a vector autoregressive model (VAR) are used to examine the causal relationships among energy consumption, employment, and output for Taiwan over the period January 1982 to November 1997. Johansen (1988) and Johansen and Juselius (1990) cointegration test result indicates these three variables are cointegrated with one cointegrating vector. The results from Granger causality tests based on vector error-correction models (VECM) suggest bidirectional Grange causality for employment-output and employment-energy consumption, but only unidirectional causality running from energy consumption to output. Furthermore, the impulse responses and variance decompositions are also incorporated into the analysis. The results from impulsive response and variance decomposition analysis tell similar stories. Energy consumption appears to have led to output growth in Taiwan over this period. The policy implication of this finding is that energy conservation will restrain the output growth in Taiwan.     

How a race to the bottom can make you fat

This article measures the effect of fiscal competition on obesity rates in the United States through education and health spending. We hypothesize that fiscal competition to attract firms results in lower business tax revenues and higher public infrastructure spending which crowds out education and health spending leading to an increase in obesity rates. We empirically test this hypothesis. We find that there is significant fiscal competition to attract firms. Next, we show that when business tax revenues are lowered and public infrastructure spending favouring businesses increased, public health and education spending declines and obesity rates significantly increase. Thus, fiscal competition significantly contributes to obesity rates through the education and health spending channel.     

健康运动，远离肥胖

随着人民生活水平的不断提高,肥胖已经成为全球瞩目的公共健康问题。肥胖以及相关的综合症严重威胁着人类的健康,影响着运动能力和身体素质。通过对肥胖的成因以及诊断标准的分析,论述运动减肥的可能机制,从而确定健康有效的减肥方法,达到健康减肥的目的,并且为全民健身提供参考依据。     

Parental Compensatory Behaviors and Early Child Health Outcomes in Cebu, Philippines()

A dynamic optimization model of parents choosing investments in their children's health motivates an empirical model of parents' choices of health inputs for their children and the impacts of these decisions on their children's subsequent health. Estimates of the child health input demand functions and the child health production functions from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey accord with the prediction that optimizing behavior results in higher levels of aggregate child health. Observable parental behaviors respond to the physical developmental status of their children. These parental responses appear to yield large and statistically significant improvements in children's early physiological outcomes. However, because some health inputs choices are not observable, it is impossible to ascertain whether these measured effects are due solely to variations in the observed input choices.     

Where can obesity management policy make the largest impact? Evaluating sub-populations through a microsimulation approach

Background: There is a critical need to focus limited resources on sub-groups of patients with obesity where we expect the largest return on investment. This paper identifies patient sub-groups where an investment may result in larger positive economic and health outcomes.

Methods: The baseline population with obesity was derived from a public survey database and divided into sub-populations defined by demographics and disease status. In 2016, a validated model was used to simulate the incidence of diabetes, absenteeism, and direct medical cost in five care settings. Research findings were derived from the difference in population outcomes with and without weight loss over 15 years. Modeled weight loss scenarios included initial 5% or 12% reduction in body mass index followed by a gradual weight regain. Additional simulations were conducted to show alternative outcomes from different time courses and maintenance scenarios.

Results: Univariate analyses showed that age 45–64, pre-diabetes, female, or obesity class III are independently predictive of larger savings. After considering the correlation between these factors, multivariate analyses projected young females with obesity class I as the optimal sub-group to control obesity-related medical expenditures. In contrast, the population aged 20–35 with obesity class III will yield the best health outcomes. Also, the sub-group aged 45–54 with obesity class I will produce the biggest productivity improvement. Each additional year of weight loss maintained showed increased financial benefits.

Conclusions: This paper studied the heterogeneity between many sub-populations affected by obesity and recommended different priorities for decision-makers in economic, productivity, and health realms.     

Delivering Public Health Care Services: Substitutes,Complements, or Both?

In this article we investigate how the availability of public health care providers increases (complement) or decreases (substitute) the likelihood of having public or private health insurance. The probability of each of three insurance alternatives (uninsured, Medicaid, private insurance) is modeled as a function of the availability of public programs in the respondents'community along with individual characteristics including family income, health status, and family structure. Using population-based estimates, public hospitals are associated with a crowd-out rate of 3.5 percent to 8.6 percent. Federally qualified health centers were associated with a net complementary effect (additional public insurance take-up) of 7.1 percent. (JEL I11 , I18 , I38 )     

The rise of obesity in Europe: an economic perspective

Obesity in Europe is rising. This paper investigates the economic rationales for public intervention to control obesity. We present new empirical evidence showing that family background is related to obesity among young European adults. This evidence provides a strong basis for intervention on equity grounds, particularly targeted towards children. The case for intervention on efficiency grounds is less clear-cut and in most cases the evidence is relatively weak. We find insufficient evidence that information deficiencies are important, as the majority of Europeans appear to be aware of the bad consequences of obesity on health. We also find that the potential health insurance externality -- non-obese effectively subsidizing obese individuals -- is small. In support of policy intervention, we show that there are product and labour market imperfections. Obese employees earn less than the non-obese. We also find that there is a remarkably high proportion of individuals with self-control problems, who fail to stick to their self-declared weight-related plans. Regulations that affect fast food advertisements and the location and access to fast food vending machines and establishments may help these individuals in controlling their weight.
--- Giorgio Brunello, Pierre-Carl Michaud and Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano     

WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL RESPONSIVENESS, AND CHILD SURVIVAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY

Women's choices appear to emphasize child welfare more than those of men. This paper presents new evidence on how suffrage rights for American women helped children to benefit from the scientific breakthroughs of the bacteriological revolution. Consistent with standard models of electoral competition, suffrage laws were followed by immediate shifts in legislative behavior and large, sudden increases in local public health spending. This growth in public health spending fueled large-scale door-to-door hygiene campaigns, and child mortality declined by 8-15% (or 20,000 annual child deaths nationwide) as cause-specific reductions occurred exclusively among infectious childhood killers sensitive to hygienic conditions.     

A $15 U.S. Minimum Wage: How the Fast-Food Industry Could Adjust Without Shedding Jobs

We consider the extent to which U.S. fast-food businesses could adjust to an increase in the federal minimum wage from its current level of $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour without having to resort to reducing their workforce. We consider this issue through a set of simple illustrative exercises, whereby the US raises the federal minimum wage in two steps over four years, first to $10.50 within one year, then to $15 after three more years. We conclude that the fast-food industry could absorb the increase in its overall wage bill without resorting to cuts in their employment levels at any point over this four-year adjustment period. We find that the fast-food industry could fully absorb these wage bill increases through a combination of turnover reductions, trend increases in sales growth, and modest annual price increases over the four-year period. Working from the relevant existing literature, our results are based on a set of reasonable assumptions on fast-food turnover rates, the price elasticity of demand within the fast-food industry, and the industry’s underlying trend for sales growth. We also show that fast-food firms would not need to lower their average profit rate during this adjustment period.     

The public reallocation of resources across age: a comparison of Austria and Sweden

There is a strong interdependency between public transfers and the shape of the economic lifecycle because these transfers facilitate and enable the decoupling of production and consumption over long time periods, most notably in childhood and retirement. The design of public transfers obviously influences the production and consumption and consequently also the degree of economic dependency of children and the elderly. We propose economic dependency ratios which are based on age-specific consumption and labour income or age-specific public contributions/benefits, respectively, illustrating them in a comparison of Austria and Sweden. Although these two countries are very similar economies in terms of production, income and the size of the public sector, there are remarkable differences in the design of public transfers, in their distribution over age-groups and consequently in the shape of the average economic lifecycle. Using the economic dependency ratios we show that the financial sustainability of the public transfer system depends beside the demographic developments strongly on its design: the Swedish system collects the contributions from a wider range of age groups, transfers a smaller share to the elderly and provides more support to younger generations, supporting them to invest in children of their own. These characteristics have a positive effect on the sustainability of the Swedish system: although in Sweden there is a larger share of the population in the age group 60+, the total economic dependency of elderly persons is lower.     

Socioeconomic Status and Obesity Gradient over Age: New Evidence from China

This paper presents a systematic analysis of the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on overweight and obesity in China and investigates how and why the SES-obesity gradient differs with age. Using a longitudinal sample drawn from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), I find that body mass index (BMI) is positively associated with SES during early childhood but becomes inversely related to childhood SES as children age into adulthood. Estimation results show that children from low SES families are less likely to be overweight or obese than their median and high SES peers. The results from subsamples stratified by living area reveal that the SES gaps of obesity are generally larger for urban residents than rural residents. Females are significantly less likely to be overweight than males in China. The SES during childhood has independent effects after controlling for respondents’ contemporaneous SES. The relationship between the contemporaneous SES of a male adult and his chance of being overweight or obese is significantly positive, while the contemporaneous SES of a female adult is negatively related to her chance of being overweight or obese.