title: Limited Self-control, Obesity, and the Loss of Happiness.
abstract: Is obesity the consequence of an optimally chosen lifestyle or do people consume too much relative to their long-term preferences? The latter perspective accepts that people might face self-control problems when exposed to the immediate gratification from food. We exploit unique survey data for Switzerland in multinomial logit and ordered probit regressions to study (i) the covariates of obesity including indicators of self-control and (ii) the consequences of obesity on the subjective well-being of people with limited willpower. Our main finding is that obesity decreases the well-being of individuals who report having limited self-control, but not otherwise. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors: Center for Research in Economics and Well-Being, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. alois.stutzer@unibas.ch.
authors: Alois
authors: A
authors: Stutzer
authors: Center for Research in Economics and Well-Being, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors: Armando N
authors: AN
authors: Meier
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: obesity; revealed preference; self-control problem; subjective well-being