IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v6y2009i8p2271-2287d5566.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Socioeconomic and Environmental Determinants on Health and Obesity: A West Virginia Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Anura Amarasinghe

    (Centre for the Built Environment and Health, School of Population Health, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia)

  • Gerard D’Souza

    (Division of Resource Management, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6108, Morgantown, WV 26505-6108, USA)

  • Cheryl Brown

    (Division of Resource Management, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6108, Morgantown, WV 26505-6108, USA)

  • Hyungna Oh

    (College of Business and Economics, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6025, Morgantown, WV 26505-6108, USA)

  • Tatiana Borisova

    (Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, McCarty Hall A, P.O. Box 110240, Gainesville, FL 32611-0240, USA)

Abstract

A recursive system of ordered self assessed health together with BRFSS data were used to investigate health and obesity in the Appalachian state of West Virginia. Implications of unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity of lifestyle outcomes on health were investigated. Obesity was found to be an endogenous lifestyle outcome associated with impaired health status. Risk of obesity is found to increase at a decreasing rate with per capita income and age. Intervention measures which stimulate human capital development, diet-disease knowledge and careful land use planning may improve health and obesity outcomes in Appalachia in particular and rural America in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Anura Amarasinghe & Gerard D’Souza & Cheryl Brown & Hyungna Oh & Tatiana Borisova, 2009. "The Influence of Socioeconomic and Environmental Determinants on Health and Obesity: A West Virginia Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 6(8), pages 1-17, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:6:y:2009:i:8:p:2271-2287:d:5566
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/6/8/2271/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/6/8/2271/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cutler, David M & Richardson, Elizabeth, 1998. "The Value of Health: 1970-1990," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 97-100, May.
    2. Smith, Richard J & Blundell, Richard W, 1986. "An Exogeneity Test for a Simultaneous Equation Tobit Model with an Application to Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 679-685, May.
    3. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    4. Contoyannis, Paul & Jones, Andrew M., 2004. "Socio-economic status, health and lifestyle," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 965-995, September.
    5. Chou, Shin-Yi & Grossman, Michael & Saffer, Henry, 2004. "An economic analysis of adult obesity: results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 565-587, May.
    6. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    7. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2003. "Why Have Americans Become More Obese?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 93-118, Summer.
    8. Tomas Philipson, 2001. "The world‐wide growth in obesity: an economic research agenda," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(1), pages 1-7, January.
    9. Joan Costa-Font & Joan Gil, 2004. "Social interactions and the contemporaneous determinants of individuals' weight," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(20), pages 2253-2263.
    10. Kelvin J. Lancaster, 1966. "A New Approach to Consumer Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(2), pages 132-132.
    11. Kan, Kamhon & Tsai, Wei-Der, 2004. "Obesity and risk knowledge," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 907-934, September.
    12. Smith, Richard J, 1987. "Testing for Exogeneity in Limited Dependent Variable Models Using a Simplified Likelihood Ratio Statistic," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 2(3), pages 237-245, July.
    13. Jonathan Gruber & Michael Frakes, 2005. "Does Falling Smoking Lead to Rising Obesity?," NBER Working Papers 11483, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    15. Rodolfo Nayga, 2000. "Schooling, health knowledge and obesity," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(7), pages 815-822.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jungah Kim & Changwoo Shon & Seonju Yi, 2017. "The Relationship between Obesity and Urban Environment in Seoul," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-12, August.
    2. David W. S. Wong, 2021. "Issues in the Current Practices of Spatial Cluster Detection and Exploring Alternative Methods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-20, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anura Amarasinghe & Gerard D'Souza & Cheryl Brown & Hyungna Oh, 2006. "The Influence of Socioeconomic and Environmental Factors on Health and Obesity in Rural Appalachia," Working Papers Working Paper 2006-12, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University.
    2. repec:rri:wpaper:200612 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Joan Costa Font & Joan Gil Trasfi, 2005. "Obesity and the Incidence of Chronic Diseases: a Seemingly Unrelated Probit Approach," Working Papers in Economics 137, Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia.
    4. Adriana Barone & Cristian Barra, 2022. "Weight Status and Depression in Italy: Evidence from the Second Wave of the European Health Interview Survey," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 34(2), pages 193-227, July.
    5. Costa-Font, Joan & Gil, Joan, 2008. "What lies behind socio-economic inequalities in obesity in Spain A decomposition approach," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 61-73, February.
    6. Barone, Adriana & O'Higgins, Niall, 2010. "Fat and out in Salerno and its province: Adolescent obesity and early school leaving in Southern Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 44-57, March.
    7. Peña Sánchez, Antonio Rafael, 2006. "Las Disparidades Económicas Intrarregionales en Andalucía y la Hipótesis de Convergencia: 1955-1997," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 24, pages 877-908, Diciembre.
    8. Anura Amarasinghe & Gerard D'Souza & Cheryl Brown & Tatiana Borisova, 2006. "A Spatial Analysis of Obesity in West Virginia," Working Papers Working Paper 2006-13, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University.
    9. repec:rri:wpaper:200613 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Cavaliere, Alessia & De Marchi, Elisa & Banterle, Alessandro, 2013. "Time Preference and Health: The Problem of Obesity," 2013 International European Forum, February 18-22, 2013, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 164754, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.
    11. Loureiro, Maria L. & Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr., 2005. "Obesity Rates in OECD Countries: An International Perspective," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24454, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Loureiro, Maria L. & Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr., 2004. "Analyzing Cross-Country Differences In Obesity Rates: Some Policy Implications," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20209, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Amarasinghe, Anura & D'Souza, Gerard E. & Brown, Cheryl & Borisova, Tatiana, 2006. "The Impact of Socioeconomic and Spatial Differences on Obesity in West Virginia," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21159, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    14. Costa-Font, Joan & Gil, Joan, 2005. "Obesity and the incidence of chronic diseases in Spain: A seemingly unrelated probit approach," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 188-214, July.
    15. Costa-Font, Joan & Fabbri, Daniele & Gil, Joan, 2009. "Decomposing body mass index gaps between Mediterranean countries: A counterfactual quantile regression analysis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 351-365, December.
    16. Just, David R., 2006. "Behavioral Economics, Food Assistance, and Obesity," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 35(2), pages 1-12, October.
    17. Vincenzo Atella & Joanna Kopinska, 2011. "Body weight of Italians: the weight of Education," CEIS Research Paper 189, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 23 Mar 2011.
    18. Borghans, Lex & Golsteyn, Bart H.H., 2006. "Time discounting and the body mass index: Evidence from the Netherlands," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 39-61, January.
    19. Charles J. Courtemanche & Joshua C. Pinkston & Christopher J. Ruhm & George L. Wehby, 2016. "Can Changing Economic Factors Explain the Rise in Obesity?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(4), pages 1266-1310, April.
    20. Boizot-Szantai, Christine & Etile, Fabrice, 2005. "The Food Prices / Body Mass Index Relationship: Theory and Evidence from a Sample of French Adults," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24734, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    21. Pieroni, Luca & Salmasi, Luca, 2010. "Body weight and socio-economic determinants: quantile estimations from the British Household Panel Survey," ISER Working Paper Series 2010-41, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    22. Charles L. Baum, 2009. "The effects of cigarette costs on BMI and obesity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 3-19, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:6:y:2009:i:8:p:2271-2287:d:5566. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.