Increasing trends in obesity have driven policymakers around the US to examine factors associated with lower Body Mass Index (BMI) and improved health. Our research examines the relationship between an individual's health and their environment. Specifically, we examine whether moving to a state...

We use data from three waves of Add Health to study the short- and long-run effects of high school peers' genetic predisposition to high BMI - measured by grade-mates' average BMI polygenic scores - on adolescent and adult obesity in the U.S. We find that, in the short-run, a one standard...

This paper examines whether nutritional disruptions experienced during the stage of fetal development impair an individual's labor market productivity later in life. We consider intrauterine exposure to the month of Ramadan as a natural experiment that might cause shocks to the inflow of...

This paper shows how obesity can affect the productivity of any country. In our case, we evaluate its impact on Malaysia. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate any relationship between obesity and productivity. We then assess the association between obesity and the growth in labor...

This paper addresses the rapid diffusion of obesity and the existence of different individual patterns of food consumption between non-dieters and chronic dieters. I propose a rational eating model where a forward-looking agent optimizes the intertemporal satisfaction from eating, taking into...

Simon Kuznets’ (1955) hypothesis that as a country develops, a natural cycle develops where inequality first increases, then decreases, has become known at the Kuznets curve. This pattern has also been applied to the environment, an ‘Environmental Kuznets curve’, showing that as...

Obesity is a global epidemic, exacting an enormous human and economic toll. In the absence of a comprehensive global governance strategy, states have increasingly employed a wide array of legal strategies targeting the drivers of obesity. This article identifies recent global trends in...

In 2014, the United States Food and Drug Administration announced that chain restaurants with 20 or more locations would be required to put calorie labels on the menu. The merits of the policy depend in large part on three empirical issues: 1) if calorie labels help correct calorie under- or...

Rationale: Obesity has become a very serious issue in the United States, where, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 60% of the American adult population is overweight. In the United States, several economists have connected obesity to wage penalties, particularly...