Professor Michèle Belot
Details of Professor Michèle Belot's inaugural lecture.
Event details
Lecture title: "Diseases of Affluence: On the Relationship Between Economics and Health"
Date: 11 March 2014
Time: 5.15pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre 183, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH8 9YL
Lecture abstract
This lecture will start with a puzzle: Why are Western societies so rich and at the same time so sick? I will first present a number of health indicators and show how they compare across OECD countries and over time. Then I will move on to discussing the role of health-related behaviours, in particular diet, and discuss their role in channelling health and economic disparities. I will discuss why food choices matter, not only for health but also for environmental reasons and for human capital investments. Then I will introduce the approach of behavioural economists to health-related behaviours and discuss how this may help us designing suitable policy interventions. Finally, I will talk about my future work on the economic determinants of health-related behaviours.