This study is the first to examine the effects of medical marijuana laws (MMLs) on body weight, physical wellness, and exercise. Using data from the 1990 to 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and a difference-in-difference approach, we find that the enforcement of MMLs is associated with a 2% to 6% decline in the probability of obesity. We find some evidence of age-specific heterogeneity in mechanisms. For older individuals, MML-induced increases in physical mobility may be a relatively important channel, while for younger individuals, a reduction in consumption of alcohol, a substitute for marijuana, appears more important. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that MMLs may be more likely to induce marijuana use for health-related reasons among older individuals, and cause substitution toward lower-calorie recreational 'highs' among younger individuals. Our estimates suggest that MMLs induce a $58 to $115 per-person annual reduction in obesity-related medical costs. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Background Manipulating the position of food items within the physical food environment has consistently been found to influence item selection. However, the extent to which this strategy is effective in an online food environment is unknown. Objective This study investigated whether an intervention to position fruit and vegetable snack items as the first and last menu items in an online school canteen ordering system increased the selection of those items. It was hypothesized that at follow-up, a higher proportion of online lunch orders in intervention schools would contain the target items (fruit and vegetable snacks) in comparison to control schools. Design Six primary schools in New South Wales, Australia, were recruited to a clustered randomized controlled trial conducted over an 8-wk period. Intervention schools received a redesigned menu where the target items were positioned first and last on the online menu. Control schools received no change to their online menu. Results During the baseline period 1938 students (1203 intervention, 735 control) placed at least one online lunch order and were included in the study, with 16,109 orders placed throughout the study. There was no significant difference between groups over time in the proportion of orders that contained a “Fruit and Veggie Snack” item (OR = 1.136 [95% CI: 0.791, 1.632] P = 0.490). Conclusions Evidence from this large trial with robust study design and objectively collected data suggests that positioning fruit and vegetable snack items first and last within an online canteen menu does not increase the selection of these items. Further research is warranted to confirm this finding with other target menu items (e.g., treats) and across other purchasing contexts and online food ordering platforms. This trial was registered at the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, http://www.anzctr.org.au/ as ACTRN12616001520426.

Objective This article provides an assessment of whether unmarried women currently face demographic shortages of marital partners in the U.S. marriage market. Background One explanation for the declines in marriage is the putative shortage of economically attractive partners for unmarried women to marry. Previous studies provide mixed results but are usually focused narrowly on sex ratio imbalances rather than identifying shortages on the multiple socioeconomic characteristics that typically sort women and men into marriages. Methods This study identifies recent marriages from the 2008 to 2012 and 2013 to 2017 cumulative 5‐year files of the American Community Survey. Data imputation methods provide estimates of the sociodemographic characteristics of unmarried women's potential (or synthetic) spouses who resemble the husbands of otherwise comparable married women. These estimates are compared with the actual distribution of unmarried men at the national, state, and local area levels to identify marriage market imbalances. Results These synthetic husbands have an average income that is about 58% higher than the actual unmarried men that are currently available to unmarried women. They also are 30% more likely to be employed (90% vs. 70%) and 19% more likely to have a college degree (30% vs. 25%). Racial and ethnic minorities, especially Black women, face serious shortages of potential marital partners, as do low socioeconomic status and high socioeconomic status unmarried women, both at the national and subnational levels. Conclusions This study reveals large deficits in the supply of potential male spouses. One implication is that the unmarried may remain unmarried or marry less well‐suited partners.

No abstract