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Household-level financial uncertainty could be the primary driver of the global obesity epidemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2017

Trenton G. Smith
Trenton G. Smith*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. trent.smith@otago.ac.nzhttp://www.otago.ac.nz/economics/staff/otago078069.html
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Abstract

Evidence has accumulated in support of the notion that changes in household-level financial uncertainty (or “economic insecurity”) may be an important fundamental cause of the global obesity epidemic. The timing and spatial/demographic incidence of the obesity epidemic suggest that economic policies aimed at expanding economic freedom may have inadvertently shifted risk to households, thereby generating a costly public health problem.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e128
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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