Fat people? Less gas!

According to a study by Charles Courtemanche, an additional $1 per gallon in
real gasoline prices would reduce U.S. obesity by 15 percent after five
years.

http://improbable.com/2007/10/30/fat...have-less-gas/


--
Mike Kruger
Go ahead, threaten me like you have the American people for so long! You're
part of a dying breed, Hapsburg, like people who can name all fifty states!
The truth hurts, doesn't it, Hapsburg? Oh sure, maybe not as much as landing
on a bicycle with the seat missing, but it hurts! [Naked Gun 2-1/2]

Mike Kruger wrote:
According to a study by Charles Courtemanche, an additional $1 per gallon in
real gasoline prices would reduce U.S. obesity by 15 percent after five
years.

http://improbable.com/2007/10/30/fat...have-less-gas/

Correlation and causation confused yet again.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
When did ignorance of biology become a "family value"?

Tom Sherman wrote:
Mike Kruger wrote:
According to a study by Charles Courtemanche, an additional $1 per
gallon in real gasoline prices would reduce U.S. obesity by 15 percent
after five years.

http://improbable.com/2007/10/30/fat...have-less-gas/

Correlation and causation confused yet again.

Did you read the dissertation? Because unless you did, how would you
know that that particular error has been committed?

Xho

--
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the
payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked
advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate
this fact.

wrote:
Tom Sherman wrote:
Mike Kruger wrote:
According to a study by Charles Courtemanche, an additional $1 per
gallon in real gasoline prices would reduce U.S. obesity by 15
percent after five years.

http://improbable.com/2007/10/30/fat...have-less-gas/

Correlation and causation confused yet again.

Did you read the dissertation? Because unless you did, how would you
know that that particular error has been committed?

An article he's submitted to a journal is here.
http://artsci.wustl.edu/%7Ecjcourte/gas_obesity.pdf

He seems to be hedging well enough for academic use: "A causal relationship
between gasoline prices and obesity is possible ... I find empirical support
for this theory. My estimates imply..." That's the start of the abstract.

I haven't read the entire paper yet. There's 19 equations, most of which
seem to be regressions.

What is the average adult weight in countries with much higher gasoline
prices than the USA? Last time I visited England and Germany, I did not see
huge numbers of skinny people.

Mike Kruger wrote:

wrote:
Tom Sherman wrote:
Mike Kruger wrote:
According to a study by Charles Courtemanche, an additional $1 per
gallon in real gasoline prices would reduce U.S. obesity by 15
percent after five years.

http://improbable.com/2007/10/30/fat...have-less-gas/

Correlation and causation confused yet again.

Did you read the dissertation? Because unless you did, how would you
know that that particular error has been committed?

An article he's submitted to a journal is here.
http://artsci.wustl.edu/%7Ecjcourte/gas_obesity.pdf

He seems to be hedging well enough for academic use: "A causal relationship
between gasoline prices and obesity is possible ... I find empirical support
for this theory. My estimates imply..." That's the start of the abstract.

I haven't read the entire paper yet. There's 19 equations, most of which
seem to be regressions.

If you put the price of gas at ten bucks a gallon, everyone is going to
ride their bikes. So they'll get less fat. How isn't that causation?


--
"Throw me that lipstick, darling, I wanna redo my stigmata."

+-Jennifer Saunders, "Absolutely Fabulous"

In article ,
sally wrote:
What is the average adult weight in countries with much higher gasoline
prices than the USA? Last time I visited England and Germany, I did not see
huge numbers of skinny people.

These countries also have people with different physiognomies, and
mostly speak other languages. Should all of these factors have equal
weight? Why or why not? Discuss.

--
The powers in charge keep us in a continuous stampede of patriotic
fervor with the cry of national emergency. Always there has been some
terrible evil to gobble us up if we did not furnish the sums demanded.
Yet these disasters seem never to have been quite real. -- D. MacArthur

In article ,
sally wrote:

What is the average adult weight in countries with much higher gasoline
prices than the USA? Last time I visited England and Germany, I did not see
huge numbers of skinny people.

I haven't seen body weight and gasoline prices correlated. But some work
has been done on body weight and urban form:

http://sciencenewsmagazine.org/artic...70120/bob9.asp

(longish)

--
bill
remove my country for e-mail

Hactar wrote:
In article ,
sally wrote:
What is the average adult weight in countries with much higher gasoline
prices than the USA? Last time I visited England and Germany, I did not see
huge numbers of skinny people.

These countries also have people with different physiognomies, and
mostly speak other languages. Should all of these factors have equal
weight? Why or why not? Discuss.


I have read in one print magazine that the cause of obesity in most
first-world countries is not usually lack of exercise, but an imbalanced
diet. Many of the persons studied could afford a healthier diet, they
just made poor choices for their food intake.
~

In article ,
"Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' )" writes:


Mike Kruger wrote:

wrote:
Tom Sherman wrote:
Mike Kruger wrote:
According to a study by Charles Courtemanche, an additional $1 per
gallon in real gasoline prices would reduce U.S. obesity by 15
percent after five years.

http://improbable.com/2007/10/30/fat...have-less-gas/

Correlation and causation confused yet again.

Did you read the dissertation? Because unless you did, how would you
know that that particular error has been committed?

An article he's submitted to a journal is here.
http://artsci.wustl.edu/%7Ecjcourte/gas_obesity.pdf

He seems to be hedging well enough for academic use: "A causal relationship
between gasoline prices and obesity is possible ... I find empirical support
for this theory. My estimates imply..." That's the start of the abstract.

I haven't read the entire paper yet. There's 19 equations, most of which
seem to be regressions.

If you put the price of gas at ten bucks a gallon, everyone is going to
ride their bikes.

No they won't. They'll begrudgingly pay the
ten bucks a gallon, and continue to drive.
They're hooked. Totally and inextricably addicted.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca