Unemployment and obesity during the great recession: evidence from US county panel data

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the effect of unemployment on obesity during the Great Recession. Previous studies using mainly individual data surveys find that the relationship is inconclusive. Motivated by the current economic crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, we revisit the debate and exploit cross county US data, a relatively unexplored dataset in the study on obesity. We find a pro-cyclical relationship between unemployment and obesity. We further explore whether the positive relationship may relate to lack of recreation and physical exercises during the great economic downturn due to the scarcity of public recreational and fitness facility (RFF). Our findings show that the effect of unemployment on obesity is significant in both counties with scarce and abundant RFF. Hence, the limited access to public RFF during the COVID pandemic may, by itself, not contribute to weight gain among adult Americans.

KEYWORDS:

• Unemployment
• obesity
• recession
• county data

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• E32
• I12
• J22
• O51

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).