Obesity in the US. Like with most things, government is the problem, not the solution
05-20-2012, 12:40 PM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47324248/ns/...7kfLMWrGSo
The biggest predictors of obesity in an area are (in no particular order):
food prices
prevalence of fast-food restaurants
unemployment
These all affect people's access to healthy food since healthy food is more expensive, in wealthier areas, and is one of the first things cut when unemployed in developed countries.
The readjustments in the forecasts are due to increases in prices for oil, which is used to grow food (many fertilizers are oil based), and I'm assuming changes in the assumed length of the recession. Given that these economic factors are probably not going to get that much better in the developed world for a bit, I believe obesity is still going to climb a bit more.
I'm kind of leaning towards government intervention checking the private sector to solve the problem of obesity. I'm usually anti-gov but I feel like the private sector has been so effective at driving consumer behaviour I believe some entity that is working on behalf of the people needs to counter balance all the companies' interests.
If the government, NGO's, etc. want to reduce obesity. I would argue you need to look for ways to affect the access to healthy food versus just telling people shit they already know. This could be subsides/taxes, rules against fast-food places(a la San Fran)/promotion of healthy food places, etc. But these are factors at the macro level.
At the individual/micro level, It's about psychology and how humans make decisions which research has expanded beyond basic economics to a branch called behavioral economics. The book NUDGE speaks thoroughly about this topic and it has become popular in biz/gov lately because it's about getting people do things on their own "free will". This is about structuring choices in a way that people are free to decide if they want to do something but increases the likelihood you get the desired policy goal. Btw, many of these techniques are already used in game.
Think about the things you see in every store you go into. Everything is placed in a way to increase the likelihood you buy shit you do not need. Simple changes proposed such as putting healthy food at eye level and junk food out of easy reach or re-ranging how the menu displays items has been shown to reduce obesity in schools. I would like to see more of these NUDGE units outside of the federal level and into areas where they can have greater affect on local communities with high obesity.
http://www.horizons.gc.ca/doclib/2012-0097-eng.pdf
The biggest predictors of obesity in an area are (in no particular order):
food prices
prevalence of fast-food restaurants
unemployment
These all affect people's access to healthy food since healthy food is more expensive, in wealthier areas, and is one of the first things cut when unemployed in developed countries.
The readjustments in the forecasts are due to increases in prices for oil, which is used to grow food (many fertilizers are oil based), and I'm assuming changes in the assumed length of the recession. Given that these economic factors are probably not going to get that much better in the developed world for a bit, I believe obesity is still going to climb a bit more.
I'm kind of leaning towards government intervention checking the private sector to solve the problem of obesity. I'm usually anti-gov but I feel like the private sector has been so effective at driving consumer behaviour I believe some entity that is working on behalf of the people needs to counter balance all the companies' interests.
If the government, NGO's, etc. want to reduce obesity. I would argue you need to look for ways to affect the access to healthy food versus just telling people shit they already know. This could be subsides/taxes, rules against fast-food places(a la San Fran)/promotion of healthy food places, etc. But these are factors at the macro level.
At the individual/micro level, It's about psychology and how humans make decisions which research has expanded beyond basic economics to a branch called behavioral economics. The book NUDGE speaks thoroughly about this topic and it has become popular in biz/gov lately because it's about getting people do things on their own "free will". This is about structuring choices in a way that people are free to decide if they want to do something but increases the likelihood you get the desired policy goal. Btw, many of these techniques are already used in game.
Think about the things you see in every store you go into. Everything is placed in a way to increase the likelihood you buy shit you do not need. Simple changes proposed such as putting healthy food at eye level and junk food out of easy reach or re-ranging how the menu displays items has been shown to reduce obesity in schools. I would like to see more of these NUDGE units outside of the federal level and into areas where they can have greater affect on local communities with high obesity.
http://www.horizons.gc.ca/doclib/2012-0097-eng.pdf