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Feast, fast & furious for fuelling economic growth

Last Updated 17 May 2009, 17:21 IST

If you eat rapidly, will your economy grow the same way? Unlikely as it may seem, data released this week seems to indicate that the answer is YES. The relationship is not perfect, but it is persistent.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development, which includes leading developed countries, released a study about the living conditions of its members. The data included survey results in 17 of the countries regarding the amount of time each day people spent eating and drinking.

To no one’s surprise, France followed the most leisurely schedule of dining; those surveyed reported they spent an average of 135 minutes each day. The fastest eaters were in North America; the United States, Canada and Mexico were the only three nations to report fewer than 75 minutes a day devoted to eating and drinking.
As the accompanying chart shows, the 10 countries where people spend less than 100 minutes eating and drinking each day have, as a group, consistently shown higher economic growth than those that took more than 100 minutes to savor their daily repasts.

Last year, as recession spread around the world, real gross domestic product in countries that ate rapidly fell by an average of 1.2 per cent. Those that ate more slowly suffered an average decline of 2 per cent. Moreover, the fast countries did better in every year from 2001 to 2008.

Cultural factors

The relationship persists within regions. All four of the Western European countries whose people eat relatively rapidly — Britain, Finland, Norway and Sweden — showed average economic growth of 2 per cent or better over the eight years. Of the five Western European nations whose people ate more slowly, only Spain grew that rapidly. The others — Germany, France, Italy and Belgium — showed compound growth rates of 1.5 per cent or less. Similarly, New Zealand, with slow eaters, grew at an average rate of 2.8 per cent a year, while the faster eaters in Australia produced a 3.1 per cent growth rate. South Korea, with faster eaters, grew at an average rate of 3.8 per cent. Japan, which favors a more leisurely approach to dining, grew just 0.8 per cent a year.
Correlation does not prove causation, of course. There are cultural factors at work, and the picture could change if there were data from more countries. Certainly eating habits alone do not determine economic growth.

Even if there is a relationship, it is not obvious which is cause and which effect. Do people spend more time eating because they have less to do in economies that are not growing? Or do economies stumble because people are savoring a glass of wine when they should be working?

The OECD also provided data on obesity. The correlations there were not as strong, but there is some evidence that expanding waistlines come with expanding economies.  On average, the five countries in the survey with the least obesity — South Korea, Japan, Norway, Italy and France — grew at a slower average rate in each of the eight years than did the five countries with the most obesity — the United States, Mexico, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Such correlations may be nothing but coincidence, of course. But if the relations indicated by the data are genuine, a contribution to world growth is rendered by any institution that enables people to eat rapidly and gain weight. Take a bow, McDonald’s.

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(Published 17 May 2009, 17:21 IST)

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