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When migrants move to countries with high
obesity rates, does assimilation lead to labor market penalties and higher
health care costs?
Upon arrival in a host country, immigrants often
have lower obesity rates (as measured for instance by BMI—body mass index)
than their native counterparts do, but these rates converge over time. In
light of the worldwide obesity epidemic and the flow of immigrants into host
countries with higher obesity rates, it is important to understand the
consequences of such assimilation. Policymakers could benefit from a
discussion of the impact of immigrant obesity on labor market outcomes and
the use of public services. In particular, policies could find ways to
improve immigrants’ access to health care for both the prevention and
treatment of obesity.
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The hidden private costs of obesity: lower
earnings and a lower probability of employment
Rising obesity is a pressing global public health
problem responsible for rising health care costs and in some countries one
of the leading causes of preventable deaths. There is substantial evidence
that obese people are less likely to be employed and, when employed, earn
lower wages. There is some evidence that the lower earnings are a result of
discriminatory hiring and sorting into jobs with less customer contact.
Understanding whether obesity is associated with adverse labor market
outcomes and ascertaining the source of these outcomes are essential for
designing effective public policy.
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Low status and a feeling of relative deprivation
are detrimental to health and happiness
People who are unable to maintain the same
standard of living as others around them experience a sense of relative
deprivation that has been shown to reduce feelings of well-being. Relative
deprivation reflects conditions of worsening relative poverty despite
striking reductions in absolute poverty. The effects of relative deprivation
explain why average happiness has been stagnant over time despite sharp
rises in income. Consumption taxes on status-seeking spending, along with
official and traditional sanctions on excess consumption and redistributive
policies may lessen the negative impact of relative deprivation on well-being.
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In various ways, climate change will affect
people’s well-being and how they spend their time
Understanding the impacts of climate change on
time allocation is a major challenge. The best approach comes from looking
at how people react to short-term variations in weather. Research suggests
rising temperatures will reduce time spent working and enjoying outdoor
leisure, while increasing indoor leisure. The burden will fall
disproportionately on workers in industries more exposed to heat and those
who live in warmer regions, with the potential to increase existing patterns
of inequalities. This is likely to trigger an adaptation, the scope and
mechanisms of which are hard to predict, and will undoubtedly entail
costs.
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Social disruption, acute psychosocial stress, and excessive
alcohol consumption raise mortality rates during transition to a market economy
Large and sudden economic and political changes, even if
potentially positive, often entail enormous social and health costs. Such transitory costs are
generally underestimated or neglected by incumbent governments. The mortality crisis
experienced by the former communist countries of Europe—which caused ten million excess deaths
from 1990 to 2000—is a good example of how the transition from a low to a high socio-economic
level can generate huge social costs if it is not actively, effectively, and equitably managed
from a public policy perspective.
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Medical care and public health interventions in
early childhood may improve human capital accumulation as well as child
health
Ample empirical evidence links adverse
conditions during early childhood (the period from conception to age five)
to worse health outcomes and lower academic achievement in adulthood. Can
early-life medical care and public health interventions ameliorate these
effects? Recent research suggests that both types of interventions may
benefit not only child health but also long-term educational outcomes. In
some cases, the effects of interventions may spillover to other family
members. These findings can be used to design policies that improve
long-term outcomes and reduce economic inequality.
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Immigrants’ retirement decisions can greatly
affect health care and social protection costs
As migration rates increase across the world,
the choice of whether to retire in the host or home country is becoming a
key decision for up to 15% of the world’s population, and this proportion is
growing rapidly. Large waves of immigrants who re-settled in the second half
of the 20th century are now beginning to retire. Although immigrants’
location choice at retirement is an area that has barely been studied, this
decision has crucial implications for health care and social protection
expenditures, both in host and origin countries.
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Natural disasters cause significant short-term
disruptions, but longer-term economic impacts are more complex
Extreme weather events are increasing in
frequency and intensity, threatening lives and livelihoods around the world.
Understanding the short- and long-term effects of such events is necessary
for crafting optimal policy. The short-term economic impacts of natural
disasters can be severe, suggesting that policies that better insure against
consumption losses during this time would be beneficial. Longer-term
economic impacts are more complex and depend on the characteristics of the
affected population and the affected area, changes in migration patterns,
and public policy.
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