Via Greg Mankiw:
A causal relationship between gasoline prices and obesity is possible through mechanisms of increased exercise and decreased eating in restaurants. I use a fixed effects model to explore whether this theory has empirical support, finding that an additional $1 in real gasoline prices would reduce obesity in the U.S. by 15% after five years, and that 13% of the rise in obesity between 1979 and 2004 can be attributed to falling real gas prices during this period. [link to study]
Always take studies like these with a grain of salt. However, if it makes sense, there could be some truth here. The cheaper the gas, the less people walk, and the more they drive to eat out at restaurants. Thus, the cheaper the gas, the more behavior occurs that could result in increased obesity.
It would be interesting to see some more studies on obesity/gasoline prices.
1 Comment for Gasoline Prices and Obesity
MoneyQs » Blog Archive » Gasoline Prices and Obesity | September 17, 2007 at 9:20 pm
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptA causal relationship between gasoline prices and obesity is possible through mechanisms of increased exercise and decreased eating in restaurants. I use a fixed effects model to explore whether this theory has empirical support, … [...]