Limited Self-Control, Obesity and the Loss of Happiness

Obesity has become a major health issue. Research in economics has provided NEWLINE important insights as to how technological progress reduced the relative price of food and NEWLINE contributed to the increase in obesity. However, the increased availability of food might well NEWLINE have overstrained will power and led to suboptimal consumption decisions relative to NEWLINE people’s own standards. We propose the economics of happiness as an approach to study the NEWLINE phenomenon. Based on proxy measures for experienced utility, it is possible to directly NEWLINE address whether certain observed behavior is suboptimal and therefore reduces a person’s NEWLINE well-being. It is found that obesity decreases the well-being of individuals who report limited NEWLINE self-control, but not otherwise