Policy Brief: Farm Subsidies and Obesity in the United States

Faculty
Research Spotlights

Jan. 8, 2008

The claim that farm subsidies have contributed significantly to making Americans fat by making fattening foods relatively cheap and abundant has become accepted as "fact" in the popular media. We show that there is no evidence to support this claim. While many arguments can be made for changing farm subsidies, even entirely eliminating the current programs would not have any significant influence on obesity trends.

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