Examining obesity kuznets curve in the United States from the perspective of globalization and biocapacity

Gloria Nnadwa Alhassan; Andrew Adewale Alola; Festus Victor Bekun

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19569

Examining obesity kuznets curve in the United States from the perspective of globalization and biocapacity

Heliyon. 2023 Sep 1;9(9):e19569. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19569. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Authors

Gloria Nnadwa Alhassan¹, Andrew Adewale Alola^{2

3

4}, Festus Victor Bekun^{5

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cyprus International University, North Cyprus, Turkey.
² CREDS-Centre for Research on Digitalization and Sustainability, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway.
³ Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, Nisantasi University, Istanbul, Turkey.
⁴ Adnan Kassar School of Business, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon.
⁵ Faculty of Economics Administrative and Social sciences, Istanbul Gelisim University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Abstract

Given the recent rise in the adult obesity prevalence in the United States, the central and state-level governments and health agencies in the country are considering appropriate measures. Further motivation for this investigation stems from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG-3, 8, and 13), that highlights the need for sustainable health for all, sustainable decent economic growth amidst environmental sustainability. Driven by this motivation, this study investigates the validity of Obesity Kuznets curve (OKC) in the United States over the experimental period of 1975-2016. In addition, this study illustrates the (mediating) role of globalisation and biocapacity in controlling the prevalence of obesity in the United States. While the study established the validity of obesity Kuznets curve, especially in the short run, it found an inverted U-shaped relationship between globalisation and obesity for the United States. This interprets that a significant reduction in wealth-related health issues is achievable with increased (socioeconomic and political) globalisation policy amidst improved (socioeconomic) welfare of the Americans. Moreover, biocapacity showed a desirable impact on obesity since the short- and long-run relationship with a respective elasticity of 0.02 and 1.86 is negative and statistically significant. In general, this study puts forward policy from the perspective of socioeconomic and political globalisation and domestic welfare measures across the country.

Keywords: Globalisation; Income; Natural capital; Obesity; United States.