Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility / David G. Blanchflower, Andrew J. Oswald, Bert Van Landeghem.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blanchflower, David G.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Oswald, Andrew J.

Van Landeghem, Bert.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w14337.

NBER working paper series no. w14337

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2008.

Summary:

If human beings care about their relative weight, a form of imitative obesity can emerge (in which people subconsciously keep up with the weight of the Joneses). Using Eurobarometer data on 29 countries, this paper provides cross-sectional evidence that overweight perceptions and dieting are influenced by a person's relative BMI, and longitudinal evidence from the German Socioeconomic Panel that well-being is influenced by relative BMI. Highly educated people see themselves as fatter -- at any given actual weight -- than those with low education. These results should be treated cautiously, and fixed-effects estimates are not always well-determined, but there are grounds to take seriously the possibility of socially contagious obesity.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2008.