Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Review
  • Published:

Economics and obesity policy

Abstract

This paper elucidates the challenges surrounding the economics of some popular obesity-related policy proposals. Solid economic justifications for anti-obesity policies are often lacking, and evidence suggests policies like fat and soda taxes or restrictions on food stamp spending are unlikely to substantively affect obesity prevalence. In short, many of the same factors that make obesity such a complicated and multifaceted issue extend to the economic analysis of public health policies.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Obesity and Overweight. FastStats 2014. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm.

  2. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM . Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. J Am Med Assoc 2014; 311: 806–814.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Cawley C, Meyerhoefer C . The medical care costs of obesity: an instrumental variables approach. J Health Econ 2012; 31: 219–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Casazza K, Fontaine KR, Astrup A, Birch LL, Brown AW, Bohan Brown MM et al. Myths, presumptions, and facts about obesity. N Engl J Med 2013; 368: 446–454.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Keith SW, Redden DT, Katzmarzyk PT, Boggiano MM, Hanlon EC, Benca RM et al. Putative contributors to the secular increase in obesity: exploring the roads less traveled. Int J Obes 2006; 30: 1585–1594.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Arrow KJ, Debreu G . Existence of a competitive equilibrium for a competitive economy. Econometrica 1954; 22: 265–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Lusk JL . Lunch with Pigou: externalities and the ‘hidden’ cost of ood. Agric Resour Econ Rev 2013; 42: 419–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bhattacharya J, Sood N . Who pays for obesity? J Econ Perspect 2011; 25: 139–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Brunello G, Michaud PC, Sanz-de-Galdeano A . The rise of obesity in Europe: an economic perspective. Econ Policy 2009; 24: 551–596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cawley J . The impact of obesity on wages. J Hum Resour 2004; 39: 451–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Bhattacharya J, Bundorf MK . The incidence of the healthcare costs of obesity. J Health Econ 2009; 28: 649–658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Pauly MV, Herring B . Risk pooling and regulation: policy and reality in today’s individual health insurance market. Health Aff 2007; 26: 770–779.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Flegal KM, Kit BK, Orpana H, Graubard BI . Association of all-cause mortality with overweight and obesity using standard body mass index categories: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Med Assoc 2013; 309: 71–82.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Lusk JL . Are you smart enough to know what to eat? a critique of behavioural economics as justification for regulation. Eur Rev Agric Econ 2014; 41: 355–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Liu PJ, Wisdom J, Roberto CA, Liu LJ, Ubel PA . Using behavioral economics to design more effective food policies to address obesity. Appl Econ Perspect Policy 2014; 36: 6–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Thaler RH, Sunstein CR . Libertarian paternalism. Am Econ Rev 2003; 93: 175–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Berg N, Gigerenzer G . As-if behavioral economics: neoclassical economics in disguise? Hist Econ Ideas 2010; 18: 133–166.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Buhler S, Raine KD, Arango M, Pellerin S, Neary NE . Building a strategy for obesity prevention one piece at a time: the case of sugar-sweetened beverage taxation. Can J Diabetes 2013; 37: 97–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Brownell KD, Frieden TR . Ounces of prevention—the public policy case for taxes on sugared beverages. N Engl J Med 2009; 360: 1805–1808.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Schroeter C, Lusk J, Tyner W . Determining the impact of food price and income changes on body weight. J Health Econ 2008; 27: 45–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Okrent AM, Alston JM . The effects of farm commodity and retail food policies on obesity and economic welfare in the United States. Am J Agric Econ 2012; 94: 611–646.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Klerman JA, Bartlett S, Wilde P . The short-run impact of the healthy incentives pilot and fruit and vegetable intake. Am J Agric Econ 2014; 96: 1372–1382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Muller L, Lacroix A, Lusk JL, Ruffieux B . Distributional impacts of fat taxes and thin subsidies. Economic Journal. e-pub ahead of print 20 January 2016; doi:10.1111/ecoj.12357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Zheng Y, McLaughlin EW, Kaiser HM . Taxing food and beverages: theory, evidence, and policy. Am J Agric Econ 2013; 95: 705–723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Réquillart V, Soler LG . Is the reduction of chronic diseases related to food consumption in the hands of the food industry? Eur Rev Agric Econ 2014; 41: 375–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Thomas DM, Martin CK, Lettieri S, Bredlau C, Kaiser K, Church T et al. Can a weight loss of one pound a week be achieved with a 3500-kcal deficit?; commentary on a commonly accepted rule. Int J Obes 2013; 37: 1611–1613.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Fletcher JM, Frisvold D, Tefft N . Can soft drink taxes reduce population weight? Contemp Econ Policy 2010a; 28: 23–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Fletcher JM, Frisvold DE, Tefft N . The effects of soft drink taxes on child and adolescent consumption and weight outcomes. J Public Econ 2010b; 94: 967–974.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Powell LM, Chriqui J, Chaloupka FJ . Associations between state-level soda taxes and adolescent body mass index. J Adolesc Health 2009; 45: S57–S63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Powell LM, Chriqui JF, Khan T, Wada R, Chaloupka FJ . Assessing the potential effectiveness of food and beverage taxes and subsidies for improving public health: a systematic review of prices, demand and body weight outcomes. Obes Rev 2013; 14: 110–128.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Alston JM, Sumner DA, Vosti SA . Farm subsidies and obesity in the United States: National evidence and international comparisons. Food Policy 2008; 33: 470–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Miller JC, Coble KH . Cheap food policy: fact or rhetoric? Food Policy 2007; 32: 98–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. USDA-ERS. Price spreads from farm to consumer 2015. Available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/price-spreads-from-farm-to-consumer.aspx#25673.

  34. Lusk JL, Schroeter C . When do fat taxes increase consumer welfare? Reply to Neill. Health Econ 2013; 22: 1284–1286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Sinclair SE, Cooper M, Mansfield ED . The influence of menu labeling on calories selected or consumed: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Acad Nutr Diet 2014; 114: 1375–1388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Ellison B, Lusk JL, Davis D . The impact of restaurant calorie labels on food choice: results from a field experiment. Econ Inq 2014; 52: 666–681.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Gundersen C . SNAP and Obesity. University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research, Lexington, Kentucky, 2013; DP 2013–02.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Andreyeva T, Luedicke J, Henderson KE, Tripp AS . Grocery store beverage choices by participants in federal food assistance and nutrition programs. Am J Preventive Med 2012; 43: 411–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Barnhill A . Impact and ethics of excluding sweetened beverages from the snap program. Am J Public Health 2011; 101: 2037–2043.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Leung CW, Ding EL, Catalano FJ, Villamor E, Rimm EB, Willett WC . Dietary intake and dietary quality of low-income adults in the supplemental nutrition assistance program. Am J Clin Nutr 2010; 96: 977–988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Shenkin JD, Jacobson MF . Using the food stamp program and other methods to promote healthy diets for low-income consumers. Am J Public Health 2010; 100: 1562–1564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Weaver A, Lusk JL . An experiment on cash and in-kind transfers with application to food assistance programs. Working Paper, Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University. 2016.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J L Lusk.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lusk, J. Economics and obesity policy. Int J Obes 41, 831–834 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2017.5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2017.5

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links