@TechReport{dp-489,
  author        = {Strulik, Holger},
  astring       = {Holger Strulik},
  title         = {A Mass Phenomenon: The Social Evolution of Obesity},
  month         = {January},
  year          = {2012},
  pages         = {34},
  size          = {208},
  number        = {489},
  language      = {en},
  keywords      = {Obesity Epidemic, Social Dynamics, Social Multiplier,
                  Income Gradient, Feeling Fat, Feeling Unhealthy, Fat Tax},
  jelclass      = {D11, I14, Z13},
  abstract      = {This paper proposes a theory for the social evolution of
                  obesity. It considers a society, in which individuals
                  experience utility from consumption of food and non-food,
                  the state of their health, and the evaluation of their
                  appearance by others. The theory explains why, ceteris
                  paribus, poor persons are more prone to be severely
                  overweight although eating is expensive and how obesity
                  occurs as a social phenomenon such that body mass continues
                  to rise long after the initial cause (e.g. a lower price of
                  food) is gone. The paper investigates the determinants of a
                  steady-state at which the median citizen is overweight and
                  how an originally lean society arrives at such a
                  steady-state. Extensions of the theory towards dietary
                  choice and the possibility to exercise in order to loose
                  weight demonstrate robustness of the basic mechanism and
                  provide further interesting results.}
}