WIC Hybrid Colloquium
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Davide Dragone
University of Bologna, Italy
Healthy Lifestyles, Body Weight and Fitness: A Theoretical Investigation of Eating Choices and Physical Activity
Wednesday, 3 April , 2024
14:00 –
15:00 (CEST)
(save to your calendar - .ics-file)
The hybrid seminar will be held in person at
PSK Building, Georg Coch Platz 2, 1010 Vienna, meeting room 4A.2, 4th floor
and online via Zoom.
Please register here:
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/vid/events/wic-colloquium/wic-colloquium-registration
Login information for online participation will be sent to
all registered participants shortly before the start of the presentation.
Abstract:
We propose a theoretical model examining the relationship between rational eating, physical exercise, and obesity. We show that the variety of different individual lifestyles observed in eating and physical activity can be rational outcomes. Exploring intertemporal
patterns of body weight and exercise, we examine the role of individual characteristics, time constraints, and budget limitations, providing insights into the impact of policy interventions targeting eating and exercise choices.
We show that opting for a sedentary lifestyle can be a rational decision, a novel finding not present in the rational eating literature. The interaction between physical inactivity, body weight, and
fitness condition generates a spectrum of lifestyles over the lifecycle, ranging from monotonic paths to oscillatory behavior, mirroring empirical observations of individual behaviors and physical conditions.
We also show the possible existence of multiple equilibria and of multiple indifferent lifestyles. The former refers to the possibility of reaching different states of health and body weight, depending
on the individual initial conditions. The latter refers to trajectories of eating and exercising behavior with the same initial and terminal conditions, that yield the same utility flow, and yet correspond to different lifestyles.
About the presenter:
Davide Dragone is Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics of the University of Bologna. He holds a BA in Economics at the Bocconi University, an MA in Economics at Universitat Pompey
Fabra, and a PhD in Economics at the University of Bologna. His research activity is focused on intertemporal decision-making applied to Health Economics, Oligopoly Theory and Experimental Economics. He has worked on the economics of obesity, addiction, and
sex work. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Health Economics and Health Economics.
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PLEASE SEE https://www.oeaw.ac.at/vid/events/wic-colloquium FOR
OUR UPCOMING AND PREVIOUS COLLOQUIA
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