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Title: Impatience, Incentives, and Obesity
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Courtemanche, Charles McAlvanah, Patrick |
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Impatience, Incentives, and Obesity Working Paper, Social Science Research Network (SSRN), March 23, 2011. Also: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1793525 Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Publisher: Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Obesity; Self-Regulation/Self-Control; Time Inconsistency; Time Preference; Time Use; Weight Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. This paper explores the relationship between time preference, food prices, and body mass index (BMI). We present a model predicting that impatient individuals should both weigh more than patient individuals and experience sharper increases in weight in response to falling food prices. We then provide evidence to support these predictions using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth matched with local food prices from the Council for Community and Economic Research. Our findings suggest that the interaction of changing economic incentives with impatience can help to explain the shift to the right and thickening of the tails of the BMI distribution. Interestingly, we find no evidence of a relationship between time preference and weight loss attempts, suggesting that the observed effect on BMI represents rational inter-temporal substitution rather than self-control problems. |
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Bibliography Citation
Courtemanche, Charles and Patrick McAlvanah. "Impatience, Incentives, and Obesity." Working Paper, Social Science Research Network (SSRN), March 23, 2011. |