‘Globesity’? The effects of globalization on obesity and caloric intake

Joan Costa-Font and Núria Mas

Food Policy, 2016, vol. 64, issue C, 121-132

Abstract: We examine the effect of globalization, in its economic and social dimensions, on obesity and caloric intake, namely the so –called ‘globesity’ hypothesis. Our results suggest a robust association between globalization and both obesity and caloric intake. A one standard deviation increase in globalization is associated with a 23.8 percent increase in obese population and a 4.3 percent rise in calorie intake. The effect remains statistically significant even after using an instrumental variable strategy to correct for some possible reverse causality and ommited variable bias, a lagged structure, and corrections for panel standard errors. However, we find that the primary driver (of the ‘globesity’ phenomenon) is the ‘social’ rather than the ‘economic’ dimension of globalization, and specifically the effect of changes in ‘information flows’ and ‘social proximity’ on obesity. A one standard deviation increase in social globalization increased the percentage of obese population by 13.7 percent.

Keywords: Globalization; Obesity; Calorie intake; Health production; Social globalization; Economic globalization; KOF index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F69 I18 P46 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Related works:
Working Paper: 'Globesity'? The effects of globalization on obesity and caloric intake (2016)
Working Paper: 'Globesity'? The Effects of Globalization on Obesity and Caloric Intake (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:64:y:2016:i:c:p:121-132

DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.10.001

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