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The effect of eating restaurant prepared food on BMI: evidence from China during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

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  • Juan He
  • Pingping Yu
  • Xiaoyong Zheng

Abstract

Leveraging the unexpected variation in the frequency of eating restaurant prepared food due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we seek to identify and estimate the causal relationship between the frequency of eating restaurant prepared food and people’s BMI. We use first-differencing and instrumental variable approaches to correct for potential endogeneity bias due to both the time-invariant and time-varying unobserved factors. Our results show eating more restaurant prepared food has a positive and statistically significant effect on BMI, and in addition to other channels that have been identified in the literature, mood-boosting is another channel through which eating restaurant prepared food leads to weight gain. Heterogeneous effect analysis further shows that eating restaurant prepared food is more likely to have an impact on those people who lead a more stressful lifestyle before the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan He & Pingping Yu & Xiaoyong Zheng, 2024. "The effect of eating restaurant prepared food on BMI: evidence from China during the COVID-19 pandemic," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(40), pages 4791-4807, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:56:y:2024:i:40:p:4791-4807
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2023.2216440
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