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Author: Heutel, Garth
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Courtemanche, Charles
Heutel, Garth
McAlvanah, Patrick
Impatience, Incentives, and Obesity
NBER Working Paper No. 17483, National Bureau of Economic Research, October 2011.
Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/w17483
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Obesity; Time Preference

This paper explores the relationship between time preferences, economic incentives, and body mass index (BMI). Using data from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we first show that greater impatience increases BMI even after controlling for demographic, human capital, and occupational characteristics as well as income and risk preference. Next, we provide evidence of an interaction effect between time preference and food prices, with cheaper food leading to the largest weight gains among those exhibiting the most impatience. The interaction of changing economic incentives with heterogeneous discounting may help explain why increases in BMI have been concentrated amongst the right tail of the distribution, where the health consequences are especially severe. Lastly, we model time-inconsistent preferences by computing individuals ’quasi-hyperbolic discounting parameters (β and δ). Both long-run patience (δ) and present-bias (β) predict BMI, suggesting obesity is partly attributable to rational intertemporal tradeoffs but also partly to time inconsistency.
Bibliography Citation
Courtemanche, Charles, Garth Heutel and Patrick McAlvanah. "Impatience, Incentives, and Obesity." NBER Working Paper No. 17483, National Bureau of Economic Research, October 2011.
2. Courtemanche, Charles
Heutel, Garth
McAlvanah, Patrick
Impatience, Incentives, and Obesity
The Economic Journal 125,582 (February 2015): 1-31.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecoj.12124/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Royal Economic Society (RES)
Keyword(s): Attitudes; Body Mass Index (BMI); Debt/Borrowing; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Obesity; Time Preference

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper explores the relationship between time preferences, economic incentives, and body mass index (BMI). We provide evidence of an interaction effect between time preference and food prices, with cheaper food leading to the largest weight gains among those exhibiting the most impatience. The interaction of changing economic incentives with heterogeneous discounting may help explain why increases in BMI have been concentrated amongst the distribution's right tail. We also model time-inconsistent preferences by computing individuals' quasi-hyperbolic discounting parameters. Both long-run patience (δ) and present-bias (β) predict BMI, suggesting obesity is partly attributable to both rational intertemporal tradeoffs and time inconsistency.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Bibliography Citation
Courtemanche, Charles, Garth Heutel and Patrick McAlvanah. "Impatience, Incentives, and Obesity." The Economic Journal 125,582 (February 2015): 1-31.