In the world’s wealthiest countries, the richer people are, the thinner they tend to be. It’s not surprising that in places where food is scarce, obesity serves as a significant marker of wealth. But what the new study points out is that in poor countries, information is also scarce. And in those situations, loan officers use whatever bits of evidence they can find to help make critical economic decisions. “Given the scarcity of readily available hard information in poor countries, wealth signals, including obesity, play a crucial role in economic interactions where individuals seek to evaluate someone’s wealth,” said Elisa Macchi, an assistant professor of economics at Brown University.

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Persons: It’s, “, ”, Elisa Macchi Organizations: Economic, Brown University Locations: Uganda