Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility

David Blanchflower, Andrew Oswald and Bert Van Landeghem

No 4010, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: If human beings care about their relative weight, a form of imitative obesity can emerge (in which people subconsciously keep up with the weight of the Joneses). Using Eurobarometer data on 29 countries, this paper provides cross-sectional evidence that overweight perceptions and dieting are influenced by a person’s relative BMI, and longitudinal evidence from the German Socioeconomic Panel that well-being is influenced by relative BMI. Highly educated people see themselves as fatter ? at any given actual weight ? than those with low education. These results should be treated cautiously, and fixed-effects estimates are not always well-determined, but there are grounds to take seriously the possibility of socially contagious obesity.

Keywords: mental health; dieting; peer effects; happiness; imitation; comparisons; body mass index BMI; well-being; obesity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 I12 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17 pages
Date: 2009-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap, nep-hea and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (90)

Published - published in: Journal of the European Economic Association, 2009, 7(2-3), 528 - 538

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Journal Article: Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility (2009)
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