Impatience, Incentives, and Obesity

Charles Courtemanche, Patrick McAlvanah and Garth Heutel

No 11-9, UNCG Economics Working Papers from University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between time preferences, economic incentives, and body mass index (BMI). Using data from the 2006 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we first show that greater impatience increases BMI and the likelihood of obesity even after controlling for demographic, human capital, occupational, and financial characteristics as well as risk preference. Next, we provide evidence of an interaction effect between time preference and food prices, with cheaper food leading to the largest weight gains among those exhibiting the most impatience. The interaction of changing economic incentives with heterogeneous discounting may help explain why increases in BMI have been concentrated amongst the right tail of the distribution, where the health consequences are especially severe. Lastly, we model time-inconsistent preferences by computing individuals' quasi-hyperbolic discounting parameters (β and δ). Both long-run patience (δ) and present-bias (β) predict BMI, suggesting obesity is partly attributable to rational intertemporal tradeoffs but also partly to time inconsistency.

Keywords: Obesity; weight; body mass index; time inconsistent; time inconsistency; hyperbolic discounting; present bias; self control; discount factor; discount rate; time preference; food prices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D90 I10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2011-03-24, Revised 2011-09-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Impatience, Incentives and Obesity (2015)
Working Paper: Impatience, Incentives, and Obesity (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:uncgec:2011_009

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