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Economic preferences and obesity among a low-income African American community

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  • de Oliveira, Angela C.M.
  • Leonard, Tammy C.M.
  • Shuval, Kerem
  • Skinner, Celette Sugg
  • Eckel, Catherine
  • Murdoch, James C.

Abstract

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the US, with a significantly higher fraction of African Americans who are obese than whites. Yet there is little understanding of why some individuals become obese while others do not. We conduct a lab-in-field experiment in a low-income African American community to investigate whether risk and time preferences play a role in the tendency to become obese. We examine the relationship between incentivized measures of risk and time preferences and weight status (BMI), and find that individuals who are more tolerant of risk are more likely to have a higher BMI. This result is driven by the most risk tolerant individuals. Patience is not independently statistically related to BMI in this sample, but those who are more risk averse and patient are less likely to be obese.

Suggested Citation

  • de Oliveira, Angela C.M. & Leonard, Tammy C.M. & Shuval, Kerem & Skinner, Celette Sugg & Eckel, Catherine & Murdoch, James C., 2016. "Economic preferences and obesity among a low-income African American community," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PB), pages 196-208.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:131:y:2016:i:pb:p:196-208
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2015.11.002
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    2. Stoklosa, Michal & Shuval, Kerem & Drope, Jeffrey & Tchernis, Rusty & Pachucki, Mark & Yaroch, Amy & Harding, Matthew, 2018. "The intergenerational transmission of obesity: The role of time preferences and self-control," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 92-106.
    3. Natalia Candelo & Angela C. M. Oliveira & Catherine Eckel, 2023. "Trust among the poor: African Americans trust their neighbors, but are less trusting of public officials," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 196(3), pages 427-452, September.
    4. List, Greta & List, John A. & Ramirez, Lina M. & Samek, Anya, 2022. "Time and risk preferences of children predict health behaviors but not BMI," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    5. Herberholz, Chantal, 2020. "Risk attitude, time preference and health behaviours in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
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    7. Nikolov, Plamen & Pape, Andreas & Tonguc, Ozlem & Williams, Charlotte, 2020. "Predictors of Social Distancing and Mask-Wearing Behavior: Panel Survey in Seven U.S. States," IZA Discussion Papers 13745, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    9. Tony Beatton & Carly J. Moores & Dipanwita Sarkar & Jayanta Sarkar & Juliana Silva Goncalves & Helen A. Vidgen, 2021. "Do parental preferences predict engagement in child health programs?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(11), pages 2686-2700, November.
    10. Roni Elran Barak & Kerem Shuval & Qing Li & Reid Oetjen & Jeffrey Drope & Amy L. Yaroch & Bob M. Fennis & Matthew Harding, 2021. "Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-10, February.
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    12. Billur Aksoy & Marco A. Palma, "undated". "The Effects of Scarcity on Cheating and In-Group Favoritism," Working Papers 20180918-001, Texas A&M University, Department of Economics.
    13. Zeng, Qiyan & Yu, Xiaohua & Bao, Te, 2020. "Memory utility, food consumption and obesity," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Dogbe, Wisdom & Gil, José M., 2019. "Linking risk attitudes, time preferences, and body mass index in Catalonia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 73-81.
    15. Marco Alifano & Giuseppe Attanasi & Fabio Iannelli & Faredj Cherikh & Antonio Iannelli, 2020. "COVID-19 pandemic: a European perspective on health economic policies," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 4(S), pages 35-43, June.
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    17. Pastore, Chiara & Schurer, Stefanie & Tymula, Agnieszka & Fuller, Nicholas & Caterson, Ian, 2020. "Economic Preferences and Obesity: Evidence from a Clinical Lab-in-Field Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 13915, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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