Overweight and obesity standards and subjective well-being: Evidence from China

Qiyan Zeng and Xiaohua Yu

Economics & Human Biology, 2019, vol. 33, issue C, 144-148

Abstract: The adult BMI cutoffs for overweight and obesity standards set by the Working Group on Obesity in China are exerting growing influence over daily life. Using the regression discontinuity design method, this paper confirms the existence of a statistically significant discontinuity in subjective well-being at the overweight and obesity cutoffs, respectively. The overweight standard causes a significant decrease in subjective well-being (SWB) by approximate 0.10 units, and the obesity standard by 0.14 units, both sizable. Thus the standard setting has profound social, economic and welfare impacts beyond the health scope.

Keywords: Subjective well-being; Overweight and obesity standard; Regression discontinuity design; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:33:y:2019:i:c:p:144-148

DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2019.02.006

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