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2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

6. Role for Government: In Principle

Authors : Julian M. Alston, Abigail M. Okrent

Published in: The Effects of Farm and Food Policy on Obesity in the United States

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US

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Abstract

The primary economic rationale for government intervention to reduce obesity relates to externalities. An in-principle case can be made for government intervention on these grounds. Various interventions are feasible, including government incentives related to food consumption such as taxes or subsidies on “unhealthy” and “healthy” foods; government incentives related to healthy behavior and health outcomes; government provision of education or information about nutrition, including regulation of food labeling; government regulation of the food industry and its marketing practices, such as advertising to children; or rules and regulations pertaining to the provision of public and private health insurance. This chapter reviews these options and their relative merits in principle, paying attention to the issue of matching policy instruments to targets.

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previous chapter Causes of Obesity: External Influences
next chapter US Farm Subsidies and Obesity
Footnotes
1
Here the MPB of obesity status represents the benefit to the consumer from consuming food and exercise through nutrition, taste, and other sensations gained, while incurring a unit increment to obesity. The MPC is the marginal private cost of an incremental unit of obesity, which includes the expenditure on food and exercise, the cost of time spent preparing the food and exercising, and even the cost perceived by the individual from the implications for future obesity status.
 
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Metadata
Title
Role for Government: In Principle
Authors
Julian M. Alston
Abigail M. Okrent
Copyright Year
2017
Book
The Effects of Farm and Food Policy on Obesity in the United States

Print ISBN: 978-1-137-48647-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-137-47831-3

Copyright Year: 2017

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47831-3_6