Time preferences and obesity: Evidence from urban India

Archana Dang

Agricultural Economics, 2023, vol. 54, issue 4, 487-514

Abstract: This article examines the relationship between agents’ behavioral attributes (or time preferences) and the problem of obesity and, more generally, problems of both overnutrition and undernutrition. Through a primary survey in western Delhi data were gathered on participants’ food choices and body mass index. Time preferences, as posited by the (β,δ${{\beta}},{{\delta}}$) quasi‐hyperbolic discounting model, were elicited using an incentivized, choice‐based experiment. Estimating a simultaneous two‐equation model, the article finds that individuals in the sample with lower β and/or lower δ (or higher time preferences) make unhealthy food choices, which, in turn, significantly increases their BMI. In addition, a supplementary empirical exercise analyzes a large, secondary unit record data set, with savings as a proxy for time preferences, to provide evidence that these behavioral attributes also explain the problem of underweight (germane in developing countries).

Date: 2023
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