Worth your weight: experimental evidence on the benefits of obesity in low-income countries

Elisa Macchi

No 401, ECON - Working Papers from Department of Economics - University of Zurich

Abstract: I study the economic value of obesity—a seemingly inconsequential but unhealthy status symbol in poor countries. Randomizing decision-makers in Kampala, Uganda to view weight-manipulated portraits, I make four findings. First, obesity is perceived as a reliable signal of wealth rather than beauty and health. Second, being obese facilitates access to credit: in a real-stakes experiment involving loan officers, the obesity premium is comparable to raising borrower self-reported earnings by 60%. Third, asymmetric information drives this premium, which drops significantly when more financial information is provided. Fourth, obesity benefits and wealth-signaling value are commonly overestimated, raising the cost of healthy behaviors.

Keywords: Obesity; status; asymmetric information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 O10 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-hea and nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zur:econwp:401

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