Han Jeehee, Schwartz Amy Ellen, Elbel Brian
Syracuse University.
New York University.
Reg Sci Urban Econ. 2020 Sep;84. doi: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2020.103565. Epub 2020 Jun 14.
We examine the causal link between proximity to fast food and the incidence of childhood obesity among low-income households in New York City. Using individual-level longitudinal data on students living in public housing linked to restaurant location data, we exploit the naturally occurring within-development variation in distance to fast food restaurants to estimate the impact of proximity on obesity. Since the assignment of households to specific buildings is based upon availability at the time of assignment to public housing, the distance between student residence and retail outlets-including fast food restaurants, wait-service restaurants, supermarkets, and corner stores-is plausibly random. Our credibly causal estimates suggest that childhood obesity increases with proximity to fast food, with larger effects for younger children who attend neighborhood schools.
我们研究了纽约市低收入家庭中，居住地点与快餐店的距离和儿童肥胖发生率之间的因果关系。利用居住在公共住房的学生的个人层面纵向数据，并结合餐厅位置数据，我们利用与快餐店距离的自然发生的内部发展差异，来估计距离对肥胖的影响。由于家庭被分配到特定建筑是基于分配到公共住房时的可获得性，学生住所与零售网点（包括快餐店、提供外送服务的餐厅、超市和街角商店）之间的距离可能是随机的。我们可靠的因果估计表明，儿童肥胖率会随着与快餐店距离的缩短而上升，对就读邻里学校的年幼儿童影响更大。
