The Changing Relationship between Bodyweight and Longevity in High- and Low-Income Countries

Joanna Kopinska, Vincenzo Atella, Jay Bhattacharya and Grant Miller

No 28813, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Standard measures of bodyweight (overweight and obese, for example) fail to reflect technological progress over time - and in particular, recent progress disproportionately promoting longevity at higher bodyweights (and differences in access to it). This paper builds on the pioneering work of Hans Waaler (Waaler, 1984) and Robert Fogel (Fogel, 1994) to empirically estimate how technological progress, and differential access to it, have fundamentally transformed the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and longevity in high-, middle-, and low-income countries. Importantly, we show that the combined effect of technological progress and access to it across countries is so profound that the share of national populations above mortality-minimizing bodyweight is not clearly greater in countries with higher overweight and obesity rates (as traditionally defined) - and in fact, relative to current standards, a larger share of low-income countries’ populations can be unhealthily heavy.

JEL-codes: I1 I14 I15 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Published as Joanna Kopinska & Vincenzo Atella & Jay Bhattacharya & Grant Miller, 2024. "The changing relationship between bodyweight and longevity in high- and low-income countries," Economics & Human Biology, .

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Journal Article: The changing relationship between bodyweight and longevity in high- and low-income countries (2024)
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