Venue: The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, 1 Towerview Drive, Durham, NC 27708-0120
Presentation
Food Costs and Adolescent Body Mass Index: Evidence from Panel Data
This study draws on four waves of the1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and external price and outlet density data sources to examine the relationship between adolescent body mass index (BMI) and fast food prices and fast food restaurant availability using panel data estimation methods to account for unobserved individual- level heterogeneity. We also control for additional neighborhood contextual factors including general food prices, and the availability of full-service restaurants, supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores and commercial physical activity- related facilities. Using pooled cross-sections, we confirm previous results from existing cross-sectional studies that the price of fast food has a statistically significant weak negative effect on teen weight. The panel data estimates, however, yield mixed results. Controlling for individual-level fixed effects, we find a statistically significant negative relationship between fast food prices and BMI in long difference estimation but no statistically significant effect from the fixed effects model. Examining price responsiveness by socioeconomic status indicators, we do, however, find evidence that weight changes for teens in middle-income families and those with low-educated mothers are sensitive to changes in fast food prices.