@article{Cavaliere:44324,
      recid = {44324},
      author = {Cavaliere, Alessia and Banterle, Alessandro},
      title = {Economic factors affecting obesity: an application in  Italy},
      address = {2008},
      number = {725-2016-49677},
      pages = {5},
      year = {2008},
      abstract = {The World Health Organization has stated that obesity is  spreading around the world like a “global epidemic”.  In  2004 the percentage of obese people in the Italian  population was 9%, but the trend s increasing in recent  years.  Focusing on this country, the purpose of the paper  is to analyze the socio-economic variables affecting  obesity by means of a survey conducted in a consumer  sample.
Our analysis is based on a survey conducted in  Italy, and the sample was composed of 999 consumers.  We  used a binary logit model and the dependent variable is  body mass index (BMI), expressed in a dichotomic way  (seriously overweight and obese, value 1, and normal  weight, value 0).  The results show that the condition of  the seriously overweight and obese increases with age,  especially in people over 65 of age.  Also gender is  correlated with the pathology: being seriously overweight  and obese is far more likely for men than for women.  An  inverse relation was shown between obesity and education,  and between obesity and the level of food knowledge.  The  results highlight that disadvantaged social categories are  more susceptible to the problem of overweight and obesity.   A policy implication of the analysis, to limit the spread  of obesity, could lie in programs aimed at improving health  and food awareness and focused on these minority groups.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/44324},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.44324},
}