title: Economic Preferences and Obesity among a Low-Income African American Community.
abstract: Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the US, with a significantly higher fraction of African Americans who are obese than whites. Yet there is little understanding of why some individuals become obese while others do not. We conduct a lab-in-field experiment in a low-income African American community to investigate whether risk and time preferences play a role in the tendency to become obese. We examine the relationship between incentivized measures of risk and time preferences and weight status (BMI), and find that individuals who are more tolerant of risk are more likely to have a higher BMI. This result is driven by the most risk tolerant individuals. Patience is not independently statistically related to BMI in this sample, but those who are more risk averse and patient are less likely to be obese.
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Resource Economics, 203 Stockbridge Hall, 80 Campus Center Way, Amherst, MA 01003 USA, Ph: 413-545-5716.
authors.forename: Angela C M
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Dallas, School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, Department of Economics, 800 W. Campbell Rd., GR31, Richardson, Texas 75080 USA. Present address : University of Dallas, Economics Department, 1845 East Northgate Drive, Irving, Texas 75062 USA.
authors.forename: Tammy C M
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, Dallas Regional Campus, Dallas, Texas USA and The Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas USA. Present address: American Cancer Society, Intramural Research Department, Health Economics and Policy Program, 250 Williams St., Atlanta, GA 30303 USA.
authors.forename: Kerem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shuval
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas USA 5323 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75390-9066.
authors.forename: Celette Sugg
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Skinner
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, Department of Economics, 4228 TAMU, College Station, TX 77845.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eckel
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Dallas, School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, Department of Economics, 800 W. Campbell Rd., GR31, Richardson, Texas 75080 USA.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Murdoch