@techreport{NBERw14337,
 title = "Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility",
 author = "David G. Blanchflower and Andrew J. Oswald and Bert Van Landeghem",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "14337",
 year = "2008",
 month = "September",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w14337",
 abstract = {If human beings care about their relative weight, a form of imitative obesity can emerge (in which people subconsciously keep up with the weight of the Joneses).  Using Eurobarometer data on 29 countries, this paper provides cross-sectional evidence that overweight perceptions and dieting are influenced by a person's relative BMI, and longitudinal evidence from the German Socioeconomic Panel that well-being is influenced by relative BMI.  Highly educated people see themselves as fatter -- at any given actual weight -- than those with low education.  These results should be treated cautiously, and fixed-effects estimates are not always well-determined, but there are grounds to take seriously the possibility of socially contagious obesity.},
}