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The Long-Run Growth in Obesity as a Function of Technological Change


Richard A. Posner


University of Chicago Law School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Tomas Philipson


University of Chicago; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

May 1999

University of Chicago Law School, John M. Olin Law & Economics Working Paper No. 78

Abstract:     
This paper analyzes the forces contributing to the worldwide long-run rise in obesity and the role of public interventions in affecting its continued growth. A growth in obesity in a population must result from the growth of calorie consumption outpacing the growth of physical activity. Yet in developed countries, obesity has grown with modest rises in calorie consumption and with a substantial increase in both exercise and dieting. We consider the economic incentives that give rise to a growth in obesity by stimulating intake of calories at the same time as discouraging the expending of calories on physical activity. We argue that technological change provides a natural interpretation of the long-run growth in obesity, that it predicts that the effect of income on obesity changes sign with economic development, and that it implies that the growth in obesity may be self-limiting.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 33

JEL Classification: I11, I12

working papers series


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Date posted: June 1, 1999  

Suggested Citation

Posner, Richard A. and Philipson, Tomas J., The Long-Run Growth in Obesity as a Function of Technological Change (May 1999). University of Chicago Law School, John M. Olin Law & Economics Working Paper No. 78. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=167008 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.167008

Contact Information

Richard A. Posner (Contact Author)
University of Chicago Law School ( email )
1111 E. 60th St.
LBQ 611
Chicago, IL 60637
United States
773-702-9608 (Phone)
773-702-0730 (Fax)
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
Tomas J. Philipson
University of Chicago ( email )
Graduate School of Business
1101 East 58th Street
Chicago, 60637
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
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