Can being thinner make you richer?

it is economically rational for women to try as hard as possible to be thin and each of their activities not only keeps them fit but provides it and that is a tragedy this is the secret economics of thinness across the developed world the rich people are the thinner they tend to be this relationship though is driven almost entirely by women this chart shows the share of men and women in France that are classified as obese and their income levels obese women tend to earn far less than their thin appears but obese men and thin men tend to earn about the same seems true in America and in South Korea obese men tend to earn more than nothing appears but in each of these countries richer women are much more likely to be thin than poorer ones in fact the correlation is so strong that for an obese woman of average height losing 65 pounds could have the same impact on her wages as gaining a master's degree why is this traditionally people have believed that poverty which can make it difficult to access healthy foods or find time to exercise can explain why in general poor people are more likely to be obese but those arguments should apply equally to both men and women and they don't so perhaps the causality runs the other way it is being thin that helps women to become rich in many ways thinness is an economic Pursuit think of the time and money that women invest in trying to eat healthily or attending exercise classes there while social attitudes towards weight may have shifted in recent decades the economic reality so far has not [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The Economist

Views: 84,152

Keywords: The Economist, Economist, Economist Films, Economist Videos, Politics, news, short-documentary, weight loss, obesity, weight, women, success, women success, women weight, economic, economics, wealth

Id: BMPHIOBiNNg

Length: 1min 52sec (112 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 02 2023