Does legal heritage affect obesity? The channel of motor vehicle dependence

Paul Carlin (), Michael P Kidd and Mehmet Ulubasoglu

Journal of Comparative Economics, 2013, vol. 41, issue 2, 621-633

Abstract: We find a robust relationship between motor vehicle ownership, its interaction with legal heritage and obesity in OECD countries. Our estimates indicate that an increase of 100 motor vehicles per thousand residents is associated with about a 6% point increase in obesity in common law countries, whereas it has a much smaller or insignificant impact in civil law countries. These relations hold whether we examine trend data and simple correlations, or conduct cross-section or panel data regression analysis. Our results suggest that obesity rises with motor vehicle ownership in countries following a common law tradition where individual liberty is encouraged, whereas the link is small or statistically non-existent in countries with a civil law background where the rights of the individual tend to be circumscribed by the power of the state.

Keywords: Common law; Civil law; Obesity; Motor vehicles; OECD (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 P48 P51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:41:y:2013:i:2:p:621-633

DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2012.09.001

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