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Source: The Economic Journal
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. 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.

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