Read both, and skim the comments as well. What I find amusing is the general progressive "What's the matter with Kansas?" response, roughly argued as Americans' propensity for voting for policies against their own self-interest. It can't possibly be that obesity is a result of food being abundant, available, and cheap; it must be a result caused by - and cured by - government policy.
Link via Instapundit.
[Update] More from Greg Mankiw:
Americans are also more likely to be obese .... 31 percent of men and 33 percent of women have a body mass index of at least 30, a definition of obesity, versus 17 percent of men and 19 percent of women in Canada. Japan, which has the longest life expectancy among major nations, has obesity rates of about 3 percent.
Research by the Harvard economists David Cutler, Ed Glaeser and Jesse Shapiro concludes that America’s growing obesity problem is largely attributable to our economy’s ability to supply high-calorie foods cheaply. Lower prices increase food consumption, sometimes beyond the point of optimal health.
Mankiw's post is concerned more with healthcare costs than obesity, but the bottom line appears to be that obesity is primarily related to availability and cost.
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