4.6 Article

Worth Your Weight: Experimental Evidence on the Benefits of Obesity in Low-Income Countries

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AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
卷 113, 期 9, 页码 2287-2322

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AMER ECONOMIC ASSOC
DOI: 10.1257/aer.20211879

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This study examines the economic value of obesity, finding that in poor countries, obesity is perceived as a signal of wealth but not beauty or health. The study also shows that being obese facilitates access to credit, but the obesity premium is commonly overestimated, suggesting market distortions.
I study the economic value of obesity-a status symbol in poor countries associated with raised health risks. Randomizing decision-makers in Kampala, Uganda to view weight-manipulated portraits, I find that obesity is perceived as a reliable signal of wealth but not of beauty or health. Thus, leveraging a real-stakes experi-ment involving professional loan officers, I show that being obese facilitates access to credit. The large obesity premium, compara-ble to raising borrower self-reported earnings by over 60 percent, is driven by asymmetric information and drops significantly when providing more financial information. Notably, obesity benefits and wealth-signaling value are commonly overestimated, suggesting market distortions. (JEL D82, G21, G51, I12, O16, Z13)

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