Obesity: Health and Food Policy Dilemma
نویسنده
چکیده
There are two streams in the literature on the economics of obesity. Short-run perspective is one related to the contemporary prevalence of obesity and its associated costs. Long-run perspective looks at the trends in human longevity, and relationship between physical characteristics of the population such as height, weight, or posture and their effect on health and longevity. Although both approaches rely on medical research and other scientific results as their basis, their findings are different. Short-run studies emphasize a strong link between obesity and deteriorating health of the American population and suggest immediate government intervention of various sorts. Long-run studies indicate how obesity and overweight may not be associated with many health problems that short-run studies suggest that they are. This scientific uncertainty leads to a difficult policy dilemma: is obesity a major health problem that demands government attention in terms of health and food policy intervention?
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