Determinants of state laws addressing obesity

Abstract

Little is known about why some states enact more laws addressing obesity than others. This study examines what factors influence the enactment of laws using a data set of the 90 laws enacted over 2001–2010 in 30 states. Odds of enacting laws are mostly unrelated to state variation in education, population density, income, political party structure and obesity prevalence. Factors that significantly influence number of laws include education, black and Hispanic percentages of population and age. Examination of categories of laws indicates cases where political party structure and obesity prevalence influence cumulative numbers of laws, but often in conflicting directions. The negative but weak (p = 0.054) effect of obesity prevalence on the cumulative number of all laws also suggests that state governments that enact most laws are those with relatively low obesity prevalence. This study indicates opportunities for future research to examine which laws addressing obesity are most effective among the diverse experiments taking place across the states.

Keywords:

• public health
• obesity
• state government
• government policy

JEL Classification:

• I18
• I12

Notes

¹ Original data were published in two-year increments. Annual data were obtained for the purposes of this study from Tina J. Lankford through personal correspondence dated 25 April 2013. Dummy variables for legislative session year were considered in estimations but not shown here due to lack of statistical significance.