"Mother's milk": Is there a social reversal in breastfeeding practices along with economic development?

Previous studies suggest that macro- and micro-level factors jointly influence breastfeeding (BF) practices, but empirical evidence on the dynamics of such interactions along with the process of a country's economic development remains limited. Based on 42 Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in 15 Asian countries with a large time window (1990-2017), we thus test the existence of a reversal in the association between household wealth and BF practices throughout the development process. Four BF indicators (early initiation of BF, exclusive BF, continued BF at one year and two years) are examined, along with a standardized asset-based household wealth index allowing for cross-wave and cross-country comparisons.

Updating the association between socioeconomic status and obesity in low-income and lower-middle-income sub-Saharan African countries: A literature review.

Globally, the literature tends to emphasize negative associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and bodyweight in countries improving their economic development. However, little is known about the social distribution of obesity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where economic growth has been highly heterogeneous the last decades. This paper reviews an exhaustive set of recent empirical studies examining its association in low-income and lower-middle-income countries in SSA.

Does inequality have a silver lining? Municipal income inequality and obesity in Mexico.

Income inequality and obesity are both widespread socioeconomic issues, particularly salient in middle-income countries. This article seeks to detect the relationship between local income inequality and excess weight in Mexico, using robust municipal income inequality measures generated through small area estimation method and instrumental variable multilevel estimations. Our results emphasize a negative impact of municipal income inequality on individual bodyweight, especially for women.

Social class and body weight among Chinese urban adults: the role of the middle classes in the nutrition transition.

While a plethoric empirical literature addresses the relationship between socio-economic status and body weight, little is known about the influence of social class on nutritional outcomes, particularly in developing countries. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the analysis of the social determinants of adult body weight in urban China by taking into account the influence of social class. More specifically, we propose to analyse the position of the Chinese urban middle class in terms of being overweight or obese.

Is inequality harmful for the environment? An empirical analysis applied to developing and transition countries.

The object of this article is to examine the relation between social inequalities and pollution. First of all we provide a survey demonstrating that, from a theoretical point of view, a decrease in inequality has an uncertain impact on the environment. Second, on the basis of these conceptual considerations, we propose an econometric analysis based on panel data (fixed-effects and dynamic panel data models) concerning developing and transition countries for the 1988-2003 period.