Soda Consumption in the Tropics: The Trade-Off between Obesity and Diarrhea in Developing Countries

Patricia I. Ritter
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Patricia I. Ritter: University of Connecticut

No 2018-16, Working papers from University of Connecticut, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper exploits a natural experiment in Peru and finds evidence that a sharp reduction in the price of soda increased its consumption, increased obesity rates and reduced diarrhea prevalence among women without piped water at home. These results suggest that some women are substituting soda for contaminated water, facing a trade-off between diarrhea and obesity. Addi-tionally, it finds that the effect on obesity is significantly greater among women of very low height, suggesting that early life undernutrition plays an important role in the effect on obesity.

Keywords: Obesity; diarrhea; soft drinks; clean water (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 I12 I18 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2018-10, Revised 2020-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uct:uconnp:2018-16

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