Go You-How, Lau Lin-Sea, Ng Cheong-Fatt, Yiew Thian-Hee
Faculty of Business and Finance, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Malaysia.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Dec;28(45):63968-63976. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-13264-3. Epub 2021 Mar 10.
Obesity is a worldwide concern as it leads to adverse effects on human health. This study uses a panel of 165 countries and annual data from 2000 to 2014 to examine the obesity Kuznets curve (OKC) hypothesis. By using tests and estimators that are robust to cross-section dependence (CSD), our results support the OKC hypothesis. This indicates that obesity increases at the initial stage of economic development and eventually would decrease once the threshold is reached. In addition, we find that the role of global warming on obesity is not significant. Food production is found to be a contributing factor to obesity. Besides, one-way and two-way causalities are identified between the variables. This study provides important insights particularly about the relationship between (i) economic growth and obesity and (ii) environmental degradation and obesity. Implication of the results and policy recommendations are also provided to policymakers and health personnel in finding solutions to the obesity epidemic around the world.
肥胖是一个全球性问题，因为它会对人类健康产生不利影响。本研究使用了由165个国家组成的面板以及2000年至2014年的年度数据，来检验肥胖库兹涅茨曲线（OKC）假说。通过使用对横截面依赖性（CSD）具有稳健性的检验和估计方法，我们的结果支持了OKC假说。这表明，肥胖在经济发展的初始阶段会增加，而一旦达到阈值最终会下降。此外，我们发现全球变暖对肥胖的影响并不显著。粮食生产被认为是导致肥胖的一个因素。此外，还确定了变量之间的单向和双向因果关系。本研究提供了重要的见解，特别是关于（i）经济增长与肥胖之间的关系以及（ii）环境退化与肥胖之间的关系。还向政策制定者和卫生人员提供了研究结果的启示和政策建议，以帮助他们找到解决全球肥胖流行问题的办法。
