Fat City: The Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Obesity

Jean Eid (), Henry G. Overman (), Diego Puga () and Matthew Turner ()

Working Papers from University of Toronto, Department of Economics

Abstract: We study the relationship between urban sprawl and obesity. Using data that tracks individuals over time, we find no evidence that urban sprawl causes obesity. We show that previous findings of a positive relationship most likely reflect a failure to properly control for the fact the individuals who are more likely to be obese choose to live in more sprawling neighborhoods. Our results indicate that current interest in changing the built environment to counter the rise in obesity is misguided.

Keywords: urban sprawl; obesity; selection effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-hea and nep-ure
Date: Written 2006-10-06
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http://diegopuga.org/papers/fatcity.pdf Main Text (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Fat City: The relationship between urban sprawl and obesity (2007)
Working Paper: Fat City: The Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Obesity (2006)
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