Limited Self-Control, Obesity and the Loss of Happiness

Alois Stutzer

Working papers from Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel

Abstract: Obesity has become a major health issue. Research in economics has provided NEWLINE important insights as to how technological progress reduced the relative price of food and NEWLINE contributed to the increase in obesity. However, the increased availability of food might well NEWLINE have overstrained will power and led to suboptimal consumption decisions relative to NEWLINE people's own standards. We propose the economics of happiness as an approach to study the NEWLINE phenomenon. Based on proxy measures for experienced utility, it is possible to directly NEWLINE address whether certain observed behavior is suboptimal and therefore reduces a person's NEWLINE well-being. It is found that obesity decreases the well-being of individuals who report limited NEWLINE self-control, but not otherwise.

Keywords: obesity; revealed preference; self-control problem; subjective well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D91 I12 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-07-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Limited Self‐control, Obesity, and the Loss of Happiness (2016)
Working Paper: Limited Self-Control, Obesity and the Loss of Happiness (2015)
Working Paper: Limited Self-Control, Obesity and the Loss of Happiness (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2007/07

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