Economics and Obesity (journal article)
By Kostas Mavromaras
from The Australian Economic Review Vol 41 No 1, Mar 2008, pp. 78 – 84
"The economic consequences of obesity are very similar in principle to the general consequences that follow the development of any long-term health-reducing epidemic in that they include increased health care expenditure, productivity losses at the microeconomic
and macroeconomic levels, increased deprivation and many other associated negative economic and social outcomes. In this contribution we abstract from the economic consequences of obesity, simply accepting that these can be considerable and long lasting and that they should, therefore, be taken very seriously by policymakers. The serious consequences of obesity are the principal motivation for this contribution, but not its focus. The purpose of this contribution is to concentrate on the causes of obesity and in doing so to explain the possible contribution that the discipline of economics can make in understanding the fundamental incentives and resulting lifestyles that characterise the obesity epidemic."