Childhood Obesity: An Economic Perspective

This Productivity Commission staff working paper (by Jacqueline Crowle and Erin Turner) was released in October 2010. Being overweight or obese as a child has implications for the child’s health now and as an adult. It is a policy concern in Australia and for governments internationally. Preventative health policy aims to manage risk factors such as obesity to decrease the incidence and effect of subsequent health problems. However, such expenditure needs to be justified in terms of effectiveness and value for public money. Programs to prevent and reduce childhood obesity can be difficult to design and implement successfully, particularly given the complexity and multitude of different determinants of obesity. <p>This paper analyses the issue of childhood obesity within an economic policy framework. It also reviews the evidence of trends in obesity in children and provides an overview of recent and planned childhood obesity preventative health programs. <p>The views expressed in this paper are those of the staff involved and do not necessarily reflect those of the Productivity Commission.