Memory utility, food consumption and obesity

Qiyan Zeng, Xiaohua Yu and Te Bao

China Economic Review, 2020, vol. 62, issue C

Abstract: Introducing the concept of memory utility, we explore the effect of memory capacity on overweight and weight control by building a theoretical model and conducting related empirical research with a double-hurdle model. The result shows that better memory capacity can lead to a higher probability of overweight due to the higher discount rate and more food consumption when this person is not obese; while it helps the overweight individuals to lose weight due to memory disutility from obesity. The different effects of memory result from the tradeoff between memory utility from food consumption and memory disutility from obesity.

Keywords: Memory capacity; Food consumption; Memory utility; Memory disutility; Overweight and obesity; Weight control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D15 I12 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:chieco:v:62:y:2020:i:c:s1043951x19301063

DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2019.101345

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