HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: db07-0633v1 56/11/2668    most recent Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Runge, C. F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Runge, C. F. Social Bookmarking                What's this?

Economic Consequences of the Obese

From the Department of Applied Economics and Law and the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota

Address correspondence and reprint requests to C. Ford Runge,Department of Applied Economics and Law, University of Minnesota, 332 Classroom Office Building, 1994 Buford Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108. E-mail: frunge{at}umn.edu

Abbreviations: NHA, National Health Accounts

The private and social costs of obesity have many causes, and their consequences can be grimly predicted with only rough accuracy. Among the most devastating is the increased incidence of diabetes, of which 60% can be directly attributed to weight gain. There are now about one billion people worldwide who are overweight or obese, compared with 850 million who are chronically underweight. It is estimated that the number of people worldwide with diabetes will increase from 175 million in 2000 to 353 million in 2030, with India and China together accounting for 24% of the total in 2050. Obesity and its economic costs are borne on three levels. At an individual level, obesity imposes costs by limiting personal opportunity in many ways, only some of which can be quantified. In the workplace (assuming the obese are employed, which they may not be, due in part to their condition), costs are borne by employers due to lost productivity, absences, underperformance, and higher insurance premia, which in the aggregate are quite large. Finally, obesity affects expenditures by local, state, and national governments, where programs compensate for or cover some of the private and workforce costs of illness and unemployment.

CiteULike    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. A. Levine and R. M. Davis The Pol-e-Pill Finally Arrives Diabetes, July 1, 2008; 57(7): 1784 - 1785. [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Levine Obesity: Mission Possible Diabetes, November 1, 2007; 56(11): 2653 - 2654. [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. W. Jeffery and L. J. Harnack Evidence Implicating Eating as a Primary Driver for the Obesity Epidemic Diabetes, November 1, 2007; 56(11): 2673 - 2676. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]