Challenging The Spirit Level: Is There Really a Relationship between Inequality and Obesity?

Abstract

This paper examines the proposition, set out in The Spirit Level, that inequality is associated with high levels of obesity. It reviews existing literature and uses British Household Panel Survey data to study how district-level and regional-level income inequality is related to obesity in the UK. This is likely to be the first study of its type that uses individual-level data that is representative of the UK population. We find little evidence to support policies that reduce income inequality with the aim of reducing obesity levels in the UK.JEL codes: I12, I14, I18.