Obesity, Economic Growth: The COVID-19 Pandemic, and Poverty

Abstract

Over the past several decades, obesity has grown into a major global epidemic. This dramatic rise in rates is more pronounced in developing countries, as compared to more industrialized societies. In Peru, obesity rates are escalating. In this paper, Granger Causality Test in Panel Data, Dynamic Panel Data Analysis, and Cointegration Analysis in Panel Data from 2008 – 2020 in 24 regions with a sample size of 312 data points – is used. We find that there is a cointegration among obesity, poverty, and economic growth, which ensures a long-run relationship between the variables. In addition, our analysis found that regarding the initiative of government regulation, which introduces technical parameters of processed foods and nonalcoholic beverages and which was approved in terms of sugar, sodium and saturated fat content, is not effective. Finally, the results obtained show that the quarantine period in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic also has contributed to an increase in obesity rates in the regions of Peru during the 2008 – 2020 period.