Replication data for: Are Restaurants Really Supersizing America?

While many researchers and policymakers infer from correlations between eating out and body weight that restaurants are a leading cause of obesity, a basic identification problem challenges these conclusions. We exploit the placement of Interstate Highways in rural areas to obtain exogenous variation in the effective price of restaurants and examine the impact on body mass. We find no causal link between restaurant consumption and obesity. Analysis of food-intake micro-data suggests that consumers offset calories from restaurant meals by eating less at other times. We conclude that regulation targeting restaurants is unlikely to reduce obesity but could decrease consumer welfare. (JEL I12, I18, L51, L66)

尽管诸多研究者与政策制定者常依据外出就餐与体重之间的相关性推断，餐馆是肥胖的首要诱因之一，但该结论面临基础识别问题的挑战。我们借助农村地区州际公路（Interstate Highways）的布局，获取餐馆有效价格的外生变动，以此检验其对体重水平的影响。研究发现，外出就餐消费与肥胖之间并不存在因果关联。对食物摄入微观数据的分析表明，消费者会通过其他时段减少进食来抵消餐馆餐食摄入的热量。我们由此得出结论：针对餐馆的监管举措既不太可能降低肥胖率，反而可能损害消费者福利。(JEL I12, I18, L51, L66)