Obesity and Fast Food
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF WINE ECONOMISTS
AAWE WORKING PAPER No. 33
Economics
THE EFFECT OF FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS ON OBESITY
Janet Currie, Stefano DellaVigna, Enrico Moretti, Vikram Pathania
February 2009
www.wine-economics.org
The Effect of Fast Food Restaurants on Obesity
Janet Currie, Columbia University and NBER Stefano DellaVigna, UC Berkeley and NBER Enrico Moretti, UC Berkeley and NBER Vikram Pathania, UC Berkeley
January 2009 Abstract. We investigate the health consequences of changes in the supply of fast food using the exact geographical location of fast food restaurants. Specifically, we ask how the supply of fast food affects the obesity rates of 3 million school children and the weight gain of over 1 million pregnant women. We find that among 9th grade children, a fast food restaurant within a tenth of a mile of a school is associated with at least a 5.2 percent increase in obesity rates. There is no discernable effect at .25 miles and at .5 miles. Among pregnant women, models with mother fixed effects indicate that a fast food restaurant within a half mile of her residence results in a 2.5 percent increase in the probability of gaining over 20 kilos. The effect is larger, but less precisely estimated at .1 miles. In contrast, the presence of non-fast food restaurants is uncorrelated with obesity and weight gain. Moreover, proximity to future fast food restaurants is uncorrelated with current obesity and weight gain, conditional on current proximity to fast food. The implied effects of fast-food on caloric intake are at least one order of magnitude smaller for mothers, which suggests that they are less constrained by travel costs than school children. Our results imply that policies restricting access to fast food near schools could have significant effects on obesity among school children, but similar policies restricting the availability of fast food in residential areas are unlikely to have large effects on adults. The authors
AAWE WORKING PAPER No. 33
Economics
THE EFFECT OF FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS ON OBESITY
Janet Currie, Stefano DellaVigna, Enrico Moretti, Vikram Pathania
February 2009
www.wine-economics.org
The Effect of Fast Food Restaurants on Obesity
Janet Currie, Columbia University and NBER Stefano DellaVigna, UC Berkeley and NBER Enrico Moretti, UC Berkeley and NBER Vikram Pathania, UC Berkeley
January 2009 Abstract. We investigate the health consequences of changes in the supply of fast food using the exact geographical location of fast food restaurants. Specifically, we ask how the supply of fast food affects the obesity rates of 3 million school children and the weight gain of over 1 million pregnant women. We find that among 9th grade children, a fast food restaurant within a tenth of a mile of a school is associated with at least a 5.2 percent increase in obesity rates. There is no discernable effect at .25 miles and at .5 miles. Among pregnant women, models with mother fixed effects indicate that a fast food restaurant within a half mile of her residence results in a 2.5 percent increase in the probability of gaining over 20 kilos. The effect is larger, but less precisely estimated at .1 miles. In contrast, the presence of non-fast food restaurants is uncorrelated with obesity and weight gain. Moreover, proximity to future fast food restaurants is uncorrelated with current obesity and weight gain, conditional on current proximity to fast food. The implied effects of fast-food on caloric intake are at least one order of magnitude smaller for mothers, which suggests that they are less constrained by travel costs than school children. Our results imply that policies restricting access to fast food near schools could have significant effects on obesity among school children, but similar policies restricting the availability of fast food in residential areas are unlikely to have large effects on adults. The authors