Effects of Farm and Food Policy on Obesity in the United States

Julian M. Alston is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis, USA, where he studies and teaches about government policy affecting agriculture and food, including the economics of agricultural innovation, food and nutrition policy, and the global challenges of poverty, malnutrition, and obesity. Abigail M. Okrent is Research Economist at the United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, where she researches the role of food policies and economic determinants of demand in food choices and diet quality.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Obesity in America.- 3. Consequences of Obesity.- 4. Causes of Obesity: Individual Physiology and Consumption Choices.- 5. Causes of Obesity: External Influences.- 6. Roles for Government: In Principle.- 7. U.S. Farm Subsidies and Obesity.- 8. Agriculture R&D, Technology, and Obesity.- 9. Fat Taxes and Thin Subsidies as Obesity Policy.- 10. Other Food Polices as Obesity Policy.- 11. Summary and Synthesis.