Abstract: This paper addresses the simultaneous determination of fast-food availability on obesity rates through the use of instrumental variables. Using the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey and self-collected data on the density of various fast-food restaurants in US counties, I find that a one unit increase in the number of fast-food restaurants per 100,000 residents in a county increases BMI in females by .22 points, roughly .60kg (1.3 pounds) for a woman 1.65 meters (5"5') tall. I also offer preliminary results suggesting that different types of fast-food restaurants have quite distinct influences on obesity rates.
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Abstract: In this paper, I consider how individuals allocate time and monetary resources to meal production when they change the number of hours they spend at work. Using the CAMS supplement to the HRS, I find that individuals who increase the number of hours worked higher expenditures on groceries and allocate less time to meal preparation at home. Similarly, they have higher expenditures on meals outside the home, while allocating less time to eating out. These results concord well with previous work looking at the effect of retirement on meal production and are consistent with standard models of household production.
Abstract: Previous theoretical work on household meal production has generally ignored
the role of food in the production of health while assuming a version of
input separability. In this paper, I examine the implications for household
production when food is simultaneously an input into meals and
weight-maintenance, a specific form of health capital. A model of meal and
health production is developed and the key relationships that determine how
individuals allocate time and goods to production are highlighted. The
effect of a change in the marginalvalue of market time is used to illustrate
the trade-offs individuals make between health and food production.
