Analysis of persistence in obesity and severe obesity rates: short-term versus long-term interventions in 38 OECD countries

This paper investigates time series persistence in obesity and severe obesity rates in a group of 38 OECD countries by using techniques based on fractional integration. The idea is to determine if there are trends in the time series and if the impact of health policy exposure might have permanent or transitory efects. The results based on aggregated and disaggregated data by sex indicate high levels of persistence in all cases, with orders of integration of magnitude higher than three. Trends in these rates are also of high magnitudes, particularly in Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom. An implication of the fndings is that long-term measures are required to tame obesity rates and severe obesity rates in OECD countries. The paper fnally highlights the long-term measures needed to reduce the alarmingly high obesity rates in the developed countries

Determinants of military expenditure and the role of globalisation in a cross-country analysis

Anecdotal evidence offers conflicting views on the impact of globalisation on military expenditure. We contribute to the existing literature by investigating the effect of globalisation on military expenditure in 82 countries for the period, 1989–2012. After introducing economic and strategic variables into the model, we utilise the dynamic panel generalised method of moments system to estimate the relationship in the variables. The empirical findings reveal that globalisation reduces both military burden and real military expenditure. The findings are consistent, irrespective of the globalisation indicator adopted. The policy implications of the results are explained