Economic perspectives on childhood obesity
Patricia M. Anderson , Kristin Butcher, Phillip B. Levine
Obesity rates in the U.S. have skyrocketed in the last 30 years. Among adults, obesity rates more than doubled from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. Children’s obesity rates nearly tripled over the same period. This article discusses why obesity is of interest from an economic perspective. It then examines changes in children’s lives, particularly the increase in maternal employment, that may have contributed to increases in children’s weight.
