Timeline for Economic policies to decrease obesity (would they be effective?)
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| Apr 13, 2017 at 12:51 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Nov 25, 2015 at 21:58 | comment | added | nomen | Other factors to consider: economic variables such as the number of hours worked have a positive correlation with obesity, since the working poor often buy convenience foods instead of cooking. Also, exercise is a luxury the working poor often cannot afford. I know I put on a lot of pounds when I was working and studying 18 hours a day. | |
| Nov 25, 2015 at 17:09 | comment | added | Ross Aiken | I'd be strongly against a BMI-based tax. It would penalize people who are taller than average, reward people who are shorter than average, and penalize any gym-goer. BMI is marginally useful as a population metric, and should never be used to aversely affect an individual | |
| Nov 25, 2015 at 14:44 | comment | added | DornerA | When the fat tax was first proposed by a physiologist named A. J. Carson, he proposed a tax levied on every pound past a certain 'healthy weight.' Obviously this has some serious flaws, but it was back in 1942 when he proposed this. One thing I would mention with such a direct tax is that it would be HIGHLY regressive. Obesity is highly negatively correlated with income, so you would most likely be taxing the poor heavily. However, if we are only looking at effectiveness in reducing obesity, I agree that a direct tax would be the most effective way. | |
| Nov 25, 2015 at 14:11 | comment | added | Giskard | I was not supporting the other method (I don't know enough about either), but merely tried to point out that there are aspects other than efficiency. In this case whether taxes that would discriminate against some on a genetic may be applied or not. Effecient: probably. Just? | |
| Nov 25, 2015 at 12:08 | comment | added | Stephan Kolassa | @denesp: that is correct. However, I wonder whether a tax on fat (which is only one determinant of obesity) will help reduce obesity more (which was the OP's stated aim), given genetical influences both on our predilection for consuming fat and the rate at which we metabolize it. | |
| Nov 25, 2015 at 11:36 | comment | added | Giskard | A problem with such a tax would be that it is strongly correlated with some genetic factors. People may vary well not want to be taxed based on their genetics. (How would you feel about a pigment deficiency (aka white) tax?) | |
| Nov 25, 2015 at 11:20 | review | First posts | |||
| Nov 25, 2015 at 11:33 | |||||
| Nov 25, 2015 at 11:20 | history | answered | Stephan Kolassa | CC BY-SA 3.0 |