TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Blanchflower, David G.
AU  - Oswald, Andrew J.
AU  - Landeghem, Bert van
        TI  - Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility
        PY  - 2009/Feb/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 4010
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp4010
        AB  - If human beings care about their relative weight, a form of imitative obesity can emerge (in which people subconsciously keep up with the weight of the Joneses). Using Eurobarometer data on 29 countries, this paper provides cross-sectional evidence that overweight perceptions and dieting are influenced by a person’s relative BMI, and longitudinal evidence from the German Socioeconomic Panel that well-being is influenced by relative BMI. Highly educated people see themselves as fatter − at any given actual weight − than those with low education. These results should be treated cautiously, and fixed-effects estimates are not always well-determined, but there are grounds to take seriously the possibility of socially contagious obesity.
        KW  - mental health
KW  - dieting
KW  - peer effects
KW  - happiness
KW  - imitation
KW  - comparisons
KW  - body mass index BMI
KW  - well-being
KW  - obesity
        ER  -