The impact of GDP, human development, unemployment, and globalization on obesity

This paper examines the impact of GDP, human development, unemployment and globalization on obesity rates in EU countries from 1990 to 2019. Hausman’s test was applied to test for fixed and random effects on the panel data. The Pesaran and Hsiao tests assessed cross-sectional dependence and the homogeneity (heterogeneity) of the slope between countries. A second generation unit root test was carried out using the CIPS test by Pesaran, and the Westerlund test was used to test for cointegration. Mean group (MG) and pooled mean group (PMG) estimations were applied to allow for a higher degree of heterogeneity of the parameters in growth regressions. Finally, to detect causality in heterogeneous units, and cross-sectional dependence, we used the Dumitrescu–Hurlin test. The results of the analysis showed that the variables are cross-sectionally dependent and heterogeneous as well as stationary at first difference. The cointegration test results show that obesity and the explanatory variables move together in the long-run for all countries. Human development has a negative impact on obesity for 27 EU countries, while GDP, globalization and unemployment have a positive impact on obesity. Globalization and unemployment are considered to be the most influential factors affecting obesity. Hence, EU governments should pay great attention to these aspects.