Limited Self-Control, Obesity and the Loss of Happiness

Alois Stutzer

No 2925, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Obesity has become a major health issue. Research in economics has provided important insights as to how technological progress reduced the relative price of food and contributed to the increase in obesity. However, the increased availability of food might well have overstrained will power and led to suboptimal consumption decisions relative to people’s own standards. We propose the economics of happiness as an approach to study the phenomenon. Based on proxy measures for experienced utility, it is possible to directly address whether certain observed behavior is suboptimal and therefore reduces a person’s well-being. It is found that obesity decreases the well-being of individuals who report limited self-control, but not otherwise.

Keywords: revealed preference; self-control problem; subjective well-being; obesity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D91 I12 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2007-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-hap and nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Published - published in: Health Economics, 2015, 25, 1409–1424

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Related works:
Journal Article: Limited Self‐control, Obesity, and the Loss of Happiness (2016)
Working Paper: Limited Self-Control, Obesity and the Loss of Happiness (2015)
Working Paper: Limited Self-Control, Obesity and the Loss of Happiness (2007)
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