Date of Award

1-1-2019

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Public Administration and Policy

Content Description

1 online resource (vi, 156 pages) : illustrations, maps.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Ashley Fox

Committee Members

Erika Martin, Lucy Sorensen, Patricia Strach

Keywords

Obesity, Food, Public health, Nutrition policy

Subject Categories

Public Administration | Public Health | Public Policy

Abstract

Obesity is a critical health and social concern. Almost 40% of American adults are obese, creating more than $300 billion dollars in annual medical costs. While obesity is a public concern that has been on the policy agenda for some time, obesity policies have proven difficult to formulate, adopt and implement in practice. In this dissertation, I explore three obesity-related policies – adoption of obesity prevention policies by local health department, calorie labeling on restaurant menus and food assistance benefits – and find the importance of ideological and political considerations for obesity policies at different stages in the policy process and at different levels of government.

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