B3089 - Does childhood obesity hinder human capital development - 11/04/2018

B number: 
B3089
Principal applicant name: 
Laura Howe | MRC IEU
Co-applicants: 
Franco Sassi, Oliver Robinson, Paulo Vineis, Carmen Huerta
Title of project: 
Does childhood obesity hinder human capital development?
Proposal summary: 

The proposed project will address an important set of research questions on the social and economic impacts of childhood obesity by leveraging some of the most detailed longitudinal data sources available in the UK as well as innovative approaches to assessing causality and the links between health and social outcomes. It will do so with a view to making an impact on the actins of key stakeholders involved in addressing the problem. In particular, the study will rely on two national cohort studies reflecting the lives of individuals born in 1958 and 1970, and on a local cohort study of children born in 1991-92 providing a unique set of information based on biomarkers, anthropometric measures, linkages with rich administrative data, along with more traditional survey questions. The study will leverage biomarkers in the latter cohort and genetic information in all three cohorts in a detailed investigation of the causal pathways that link children early life exposures and background socioeconomic status to their likelihood of developing obesity in young age, to the social and economic outcomes associated with childhood obesity. In particular, the study will focus on dimensions of human capital (education and cognitive skills) and returns to human capital, in the form of employment and earnings, as well as forms of civic participation and social engagement.

Impact of research: 
This project aims at establishing evidence of causal impacts of childhood obesity on social and economic outcomes for the children concerned. This would significantly strengthen the case for action to tackle the current childhood obesity epidemic, because the long time frame in which the health impacts of childhood obesity typically materialise, and the relatively small (health) effect size of the interventions available to address obesity mean that a case for government action made purely on health grounds will provide weak support to interventions. Although most social and economic benefits from addressing childhood obesity (and generally poor health outcomes) accrue to the individuals concerned rather than the public purse or society at large, these benefits must be accounted for in order to capture the full welfare effects of interventions, particularly those arising from government policies aimed at improving population health. The effective tackling of childhood obesity and its social and economic consequences will improve the long-term sustainability of the NHS by containing the future demand for medical care, particularly in connection with early-onset chronic non-communicable diseases, and by protecting revenue inflows through a healthier a more productive workforce. Additional impacts of the research will derive from a more detailed knowledge than it is available at present of the pathways and mechanisms through which the social and economic impacts of childhood obesity are generated, which will give policy makers and other stakeholders the means to intervene more effectively in mitigating those impacts in obese children and their families. Mitigating actions may include interventions to prevent the occurrence of detrimental social and economic outcomes in obese children, or compensate then for such detrimental consequences through appropriate redistribution or welfare measures. While assessing the impacts of these actions is not within the scope of this project, the findings generated by the project will provide important inputs into any future assessments.
Date proposal received: 
Sunday, 25 March, 2018
Date proposal approved: 
Thursday, 29 March, 2018
Keywords: 
Health Economics, Obesity, Mendelian randomisation