Costa-i-Font, Joan 
ORCID: 0000-0001-7174-7919 and Gil, J.
(2008)
What lies behind socio-economic inequalities in obesity in Spain: a decomposition approach.
Food Policy, 33 (1).
pp. 61-73.
ISSN 0306-9192
Abstract
The expansion of obesity stands as a major food related health concern arguably driven by a socio-economic vector. However, alongside its prevalence, still scant evidence has examined on the underlying factors that explain the emergence socio-economic inequalities in obesity. This paper makes use of evidence form Spain to empirically address the hypothesis of the existence of income-related inequalities in the probability of suffering obesity in Spain using data from 2003. Besides quantifying inequalities, we take advantage of a concentration index methodology that allows a decomposition of the cross-section explanatory factors. Our findings provide suggestive evidence of significant socio-economic inequalities in the probability of being obese in Spain. However, in decomposing such inequalities we find that education attainment and other demographic covariates appear to have a prominent influence. Hence, rather than the so-called pure “income effect”, we conclude that socio-economic inequalities in obesity result from the additional influence of other confounding – observed and unobserved-effects.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03069... |
| Additional Information: | © 2008 Elsevier B.V. |
| Divisions: | European Institute LSE Health |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Feb 2008 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Nov 2024 04:19 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/3373 |
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