There's also studies that show increasing gasoline sales tax is predictive of future obesity prevalence (see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415832/). The correlation appears robust enough to generally use petroleum prices as an indicator of obesity prevalence as measured through BMI.
They're all pretty careful to note that "the relationship between gasoline prices and physical activity must be empirically determined".
Regardless, if scholarship is to be believed, moving to a place with high gas prices might help you lose weight. Yes, it still sounds nutty to me as well.
There's weirdly enough, quite a bit of scholarly literature on this.
Here's a decent survey, scroll down to see the links
https://journalistsresource.org/studies/environment/energy/g...
There's also studies that show increasing gasoline sales tax is predictive of future obesity prevalence (see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415832/). The correlation appears robust enough to generally use petroleum prices as an indicator of obesity prevalence as measured through BMI.
They're all pretty careful to note that "the relationship between gasoline prices and physical activity must be empirically determined".
Maybe, for instance, people purchase less food or go out to eat less frequently in high gas-price places. (See https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1550-8528....)
Maybe people spend less time commuting in high petroleum prices areas, which increases well being and decreases obesity prevalence (see https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11524-012-9678-6)
Maybe petroleum-based fertilizers lead to high obesity (see https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-n...).
Maybe the psychological activity of driving affects metabolism (see https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009174351...).
Maybe this is all p-hacking and it's nonsense.
Regardless, if scholarship is to be believed, moving to a place with high gas prices might help you lose weight. Yes, it still sounds nutty to me as well.