Does greater unemployment make people thinner in Brazil?
利用巴西2006-2014年微观数据，发现州失业率上升会降低居民BMI、超重和肥胖率，呈现顺周期模式，结果与美国一致但与芬兰、加拿大相反。
The study seeks to analyze the impact of macroeconomic conditions on weight measures, such as BMI, overweight, obesity, and severe obesity in Brazil. We examine this relationship in the specific context of a middle-income country that differs in many aspects from the high-income countries usually considered in the literature. The study uses the microdata of VIGITEL in the period from 2006 to 2014 and the state unemployment rate as a proxy for macroeconomic conditions. The results showed that the relationship is robust and presents a procyclical pattern-increases in the unemployment rate reduce BMI, and this reduction is observed throughout the entire distribution, with statistically significant effects for measures of overweight, obesity, and severe obesity. These results agree with the findings for the United States but contradict the results found for Finland and Canada.