Food Prices and Overweight Patterns in Italy

In this paper we examine the role of relative food prices in determining the recent increase in body weight in Italy. Cross-price elasticities of unhealthy and healthy foods estimated by a demand system provide a consistent framework to evaluate substitution effects, when a close association is assumed between unhealthy (healthy) foods and more (less) energy-dense foods. We used a dataset constructed from a series of cross-sections of the Italian Household Budget Survey (1997-2005) to obtain the variables of the demand system, which accounts for regional price variability. The relative increase of healthy food prices was found to produce nontrivial elasticities of substitution towards higher relative consumption of unhealthy foods, with effects on weight outcomes. In addition, these changes were unevenly distributed among individuals and were particularly significant for those who were poorer and had less education.Household Survey Data, Healthy and Unhealthy Foods, Overweight and Obesity, Elasticity of Substitution.

Food Prices and Overweight Patterns in Italy

In this paper we examine the role of relative food prices in determining the recent increase in body weight in Italy. Cross-price elasticities of unhealthy and healthy foods estimated by a demand system provide a consistent framework to evaluate substitution effects, when a close association is assumed between unhealthy (healthy) foods and more (less) energy-dense foods. We used a dataset constructed from a series of cross-sections of the Italian Household Budget Survey (1997-2005) to obtain the variables of the demand system, which accounts for regional price variability. The relative increase of healthy food prices was found to produce nontrivial elasticities of substitution towards higher relative consumption of unhealthy foods, with effects on weight outcomes. In addition, these changes were unevenly distributed among individuals and were particularly significant for those who were poorer and had less education.Household Survey Data; Healthy and Unhealthy Foods; Overweight and Obesity; Elasticity of Substitution

Regularization of Immigrants and Fertility in Italy

In this paper, we examined whether the regularization law approved in Italy in 2002 led to changes in the fertility of immigrant women. We used the Birth Sample Survey, published by the Italian Institute of Statistics, to show that the Italian regularization increased the probability of having the first child by approximately 6 percentage points, whereas point estimates of the probability of having additional children beyond the first were negative, but not significant. By exploring alternative specifications, focusing on individuals eligible to receive the status of regular immigrant through employment, we find evidence of a stronger effect with respect to our baseline results. Robustness analyses confirmed our main findings

Immigration policy and birth weight: positive externalities in Italian law

A decade ago, the political party of the Italian center-right voted a law restricting immigration. It emphasized severity in granting permits to stay and limited illegal immigration. However, the law became effective in early 2005, when the Italian parliament approved the decree for its application. Only one article of this law, granting amnesty for illegal immigrant workers, was immediately effective, and gave irregular immigrants the opportunity to regularize their status. As a result, 650,000 immigrants were granted the status of foreign nationals in Italy. In this paper, we examine whether the increase in the prevalence of "regular immigrants" has led to an improvement in health outcomes of babies born to migrant women, measured in terms of birth weight. Two hitherto unexploited birth sample surveys published by Italian Institute of Statistics in 2002 and 2005 were used for this study. The surveys, concern interviews with 100,000 mothers who delivered a child between July 2000 and June 2001 in the first survey and in 2003 in the second survey. Our estimates show that regular immigration reduced the probability of low birth weight, indicating that economic benefits in place at birth may be strengthened by increased future productivity

Immigration policy and birth weight: positive externalities in Italian law

A decade ago, the political party of the Italian center-right voted a law restricting immigration. It emphasized severity in granting permits to stay and limited illegal immigration. However, the law became effective in early 2005, when the Italian parliament approved the decree for its application. Only one article of this law, granting amnesty for illegal immigrant workers, was immediately effective, and gave irregular immigrants the opportunity to regularize their status. As a result, 650,000 immigrants were granted the status of foreign nationals in Italy. In this paper, we examine whether the increase in the prevalence of "regular immigrants" has led to an improvement in health outcomes of babies born to migrant women, measured in terms of birth weight. Two hitherto unexploited birth sample surveys published by Italian Institute of Statistics in 2002 and 2005 were used for this study. The surveys, concern interviews with 100,000 mothers who delivered a child between July 2000 and June 2001 in the first survey and in 2003 in the second survey. Our estimates show that regular immigration reduced the probability of low birth weight, indicating that economic benefits in place at birth may be strengthened by increased future productivity

Does cigarette smoking affect body weight? causal estimates from the clean indoor air law discontinuity

This paper examines the causal effects of smoking behavior on body weight in Italy. In 2005, the Italian government introduced a smoking ban in all indoor public places. We use a regression discontinuity design, which exploits this exogenous variation across cohorts to achieve identification in our model. Our estimates indicate that the smoking ban reduced cigarette consumption and the smoking participation rate. Most interestingly, we estimate a significative, although not very large, effect of nicotine reduction on weight increases. Heterogeneous effects are also estimated, with smaller impact on men and employees and, conditionally on BMI distribution, overweight and obese people

Does cigarette smoking affect body weight? Causal estimates from the clean indoor air law discontinuity

This paper examines the causal effects of smoking behavior on body weight in Italy. In 2005, the Italian government introduced a smoking ban in all indoor public places. We use a regression discontinuity design, which exploits this exogenous variation due to smoking restrictions across cohorts, to achieve identification in our model. Our estimates indicate that the smoking ban reduced cigarette consumption and the smoking participation rate. Most interestingly, we estimate a significant, although small, effect of quitting on weight increases. Heterogeneous effects of smoking cessation on weight gains are also estimated with respect to the mean distribution of BMI, with a smaller impact on men, employees, and overweight and obese people

Smoking habit changes and body weight: causal estimates from the British Household Panel Survey

This paper evaluates the causal relationship between smoking and body weight through two waves (2004-2006) of the British Household Panel Survey. We model the effect of changes in smoking habits, such as quitting or reducing, and account for the heterogeneous responses of individuals located at different points of the body mass distribution by quantile regression. We investigate the robustness of our results by means of a large set of control groups and the application of an instrumental variable (IV) estimator. Our results reveal the positive effect of quitting smoking on weight changes, which is also found to increase in the highest quantiles, whereas the decision to reduce smoking does not affect body weight. Lastly, cost-benefit analysis reveals that quitting smoking implies savings for the National Health Service which are much larger than the costs associated with increased obesity

Does cigarette smoking affect body weight? Causal estimates from the clean indoor air law discontinuity

This paper examines the causal effects of smoking behavior on body weight in Italy. In 2005, the Italian government introduced a smoking ban in all indoor public places. We use a regression discontinuity design, which exploits this exogenous variation due to smoking restrictions across cohorts, to achieve identification in our model. Our estimates indicate that the smoking ban reduced cigarette consumption and the smoking participation rate. Most interestingly, we estimate a significant, although small, effect of quitting on weight increases. Heterogeneous effects of smoking cessation on weight gains are also estimated with respect to the mean distribution of BMI, with a smaller impact on men, employees, and overweight and obese people

Socio-demographic determinants and access to prenatal care in Italy

Background: Many governments have made commitments to examine inequalities in healthcare access based on studies assessing the association between several socio-demographic factors and late initiation or fewer prenatal examinations. This study addressed the question of whether socio-demographic determinants were significant in explaining differences in prenatal care in one administrative region of Italy, Umbria. Methods. Data were obtained from the administrative source of the regional Standard Certificate of Live Births between 2005 and 2010, and were merged with Census data to include a socio-economic deprivation index. Standard and multilevel logistic regression models were used to analyze the magnitude of various individual-level maternal characteristics and socio-demographic indicators, such as nationality, employment status, education with respect to late access to the first examination, and low number of medical visits. Results: The study involved approximately 37,000 women. The heterogeneous effects of socio-demographic variables were documented on the prenatal care indicators analyzed. A multivariate model showed that women born outside Italy had a higher probability of making their first visit later than the 12th week of pregnancy and low numbers of prenatal medical visits; the estimated odds ratio for the analyzed indicators range from 2.25 to 3.05. Inadequate prenatal healthcare use was also observed in younger and pluriparous women and those with low education; in addition, having a job improved the use of services, possibly through transmission of information of negative consequences due to delayed or few prenatal visits. Interestingly, this study found a substantial reduction in the number of pregnant women who do not use prenatal healthcare services properly. Conclusions: The aim of this research is to provide more accurate knowledge about the inadequate use of prenatal healthcare in Italy. Results highlight the existence of differences in healthcare use during pregnancy, especially for women from less advantaged social classes (i.e., unemployed or poorly educated). Such inequalities should be examined in all areas of public policy and public services, to ensure equal opportunity for their use. \uc2\ua9 2014 Chiavarini et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd