One might think that "everyday low prices" for food would mean that people would eat much more--stuff themselves, even. So one would expect to see more obese folks in places where Wal-Mart does more business. Right? Think again. Research tells a different story.
The University of North Carolina-Greensboro's Charles Courtemanche and I are finishing a study of big retail stores and obesity. In our first round of statistical analysis we found that greater consumer access to a Wal-Mart ( WMT - news - people ) store was associated with lower body-mass indexes and a lower probability of being obese.
source
The researchers identified two causes - a change in the price of healthy food vs. unhealthy food:
The first is the substitution effect: a change in consumption mix due to a change in relative prices. If a bag of salad is $2 and a bag of potato chips is $1, then the price of salad in terms of chips is two bags and the price of a bag of chips is half a bag of salad. If a Wal-Mart opens and reduces the price of salad to $1 a bag and the price of chips to 75 cents a bag, the "salad price" of chips has risen (from 1TK2 bag to 3TK4 bag) and the "chip price" of salad has fallen from 2 bags to 4TK3 bags. In short, salad has become cheaper relative to chips.
and a change in purchasing power due to lower prices. The researchers have concluded the second reason is the primary driver of the effect.
Just another example of the law of unintended consequences. It's just that in this rare case the consequences are desirable.
h/t instapundit
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