SUPER-SIZED KIDS:

Morbid obesity is an unfortunate problem that is only becoming worse everyday. The alarming aspect of it is that it is affecting people at a much earlier age; thus, young children are becoming morbidly obese and are experiencing the same health problems as middle-aged adults. The first section of this note defines morbid obesity and its causes and trends. Section two describes child neglect in general and then distinguishes medical neglect. Section three discusses education and prevention, which are both crucial steps in the struggle with weight-loss and weight-gain. Section four summarizes the beneficial aspects of removing a morbidly obese child who is in a life-threatening position from his or her parents. Section five highlights case-studies from California, Iowa, Indiana, New Mexico, and Texas, where children have either died or were removed from their families because of morbid obesity. Section six briefly touches upon similar child neglect scenarios where removal is permissible and compares those situations with those of morbidly obese children. The seventh section considers some credible counterarguments to government intervention, and the final section suggests some recommendations on how to prevent the morbid obesity crisis from becoming worse than it already is. Too many people are dying from weight-related problems already, yet morbid obesity is preventable! This severe state of obesity is something that can be controlled and prevented, but only if parents take an active role in their child's diet and exercise.     

The Effect of Mandatory Seat Belt Laws on Seat Belt Use by Socioeconomic Position

We investigated the differential effect of mandatory seat belt laws on seat belt use among socioeconomic subgroups. We identified the differential effect of legislation across higher versus lower education individuals using a difference‐in‐differences model based on state variations in the timing of the passage of laws. We find strong effects of mandatory seat belt laws for all education groups, but the effect is stronger for those with fewer years of education. In addition, we find that the differential effect by education is larger for mandatory seat belt laws with primary rather than secondary enforcement. Our results imply that existing socioeconomic differences in seat belt use would be further mitigated if all states upgraded to primary enforcement.