The Health Issue of Obesity (Essay Sample)

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The health issue of choice is obesity which is a disorder that involves excess body fat. The problem increases risks of other health problems and diseases. Economics can contribute to understanding obesity in that, the most common social determinant of obesity is inequality and socio-economic status of individuals within a population. The two are the upstream determinants. In countries with higher income, inequality and lower socio-economic status has been mostly associated with high levels of obesity especially in adults. There is also evidence of effects brought about by the cost of healthy diets. Healthy foods and dietary patterns have been found to be more costly than those that are less healthy and this can economically explain why obesity may be much prevalent among the poor than the rich. Also, among the economic causes of obesity is production function. Prevalence of obesity has been found to be extreme among the developed countries.
One of the major encounters with tackling obesity is being able to account for the difficulty of its causes and being able to understand the influence of the surroundings. Since there is no well recognized single solution, research needs to be shifted to quasi-experimental designs to be able to come up with solutions. There need to be economic evaluations to estimate the effects from various interventions with various effects.
In tackling obesity, economics has contributed mostly in policy design .Fiscal measures have been put in place mostly to offer behavior change. Evaluations have shown that taxes are associated with reducing consumption of sugary drinks, which have been a major cause of obesity. This has had more effect on people with low income which is important because low income groups mostly suffer from the effects of obesity and the rates of obesity are relatively higher among people with low income. Taxing such products therefore helps to solve the problem because it results in reduced intake.
There is also proof of non-fiscal intervention in tackling obesity. Economist point out that one of the causes of market failure is lack of consumer information. Therefore, they have come up with interventions that are mainly focused on increasing consumer awareness. Such interventions include labeling calorie information on menus, this however has the limitation that it so much relies on the ability of individuals to take personal responsibility and watch their calorie intake. Market restrictions are also another non-fiscal intervention that helps tackle obesity. Such restrictions in