Climate Preferences, Obesity, and Unobserved Heterogeneity in Cities

30 Pages Posted: 18 Apr 2016

See all articles by Stephen Popick

Stephen Popick

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Anthony M. Yezer

George Washington University - Department of Economics

Date Written: February 19, 2016

Abstract

Some sources of heterogeneity among cities, i.e. age, gender, race, income, and education, have been the object of substantial inquiry. The reasons are obvious. These differences are easily observed and may have important implications for economic activity. This study considers another potentially important population characteristic, obesity. Descriptive statistics reveal that the intercity variance in obesity rates is substantial. Empirical results demonstrate that demographic and regional amenity variables all have a relation to intercity differences in obesity. Because obesity is important for climate preferences, performance, and productivity, its omission from previous studies and its correlation with amenity and demographic characteristics, could create problems for empirical research. For example, it is possible to explain the recent climate preference finding by Sinha and Cropper (2015) that willingness to pay for higher summer temperature is negatively correlated, ρ = − 0.83, with preferences for higher winter temperatures.

Keywords: climate preferences, obesity, diversity, heterogeneity

JEL Classification: I12, J10, R23,

Suggested Citation

Popick, Stephen and Yezer, Anthony M., Climate Preferences, Obesity, and Unobserved Heterogeneity in Cities (February 19, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2763844 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2763844

Stephen Popick

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ( email )

550 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20429
United States

Anthony M. Yezer (Contact Author)

George Washington University - Department of Economics ( email )

Monroe Hall, Suite 340
2115 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
United States

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