John Cawley is a Professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management, and the Department of Economics at Cornell University. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago and his AB in economics from Harvard University. Prior to arriving at Cornell, Professor Cawley was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan.

The prevalence of obesity in the United States has more than doubled since 1980, and has risen dramatically in most other parts of the world as well.  In this talk, John Cawley, an economist, describes this recent increase, and what we know about its economic causes and economic consequences. He also describes the effectiveness of public policies to prevent and reduce obesity.

John Cawley's research has been widely covered in the media, including stories in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, The Economist, Business Week, Forbes, Scientific American, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. His primary field of research is health economics, with a focus on the economics of obesity.

Unfortunately John's flight to NJ was canceled by Ithaca weather (surprised?). But technology saved the day: we projected his slides and John spoke from Ithaca.

For more information, read John's full biography.