Economic Impact of the U.S. Fast Food Industry on the Global Economy Research Paper

Economic Impact of the U.S. Fast Food Industry on the Global Economy - Research Paper Example Fast foods contain a lot of fats and oils, which when accumulated in the body lead to related diseases like Obesity and diabetes. A research conducted by Currie Janet et al. of the National Bureau of Economic Research (Currie, 2009), on the effects of fast food restaurants on obesity and weight gain show that, the establishment of fast food restaurants has a diverse effect on the rise in obesity cases in the U.S. The research focused on 3 million children to compare school children who are 0.1 mile away from a location of a fast food restaurant, and others who are at 0.25 miles. The researchers put the children under observation for a period to compare on the rate of obesity cases. The researchers also conducted research on 3 million pregnant mothers observed to gauge their weight gain over a period (Currie, 2009). It showed that the growth in weight gain among pregnant mothers increased according to the distance form the fast food restaurant that is the weight gain was more to mothe rs who were near the restaurants as compared to those a bit far (Currie, 2009). The obesity rates observed were almost the same to the school children. The research shows that the availability of fast food restaurants affects the rate of obesity because of the low price on the foods which leads to high consumption. The varying distance between the school children bring almost the same effect on obesity because, the children who are a bit far from the restaurants are constraint to budget hence consume less compared to those near (Currie, 2009). The availability of the fast food restaurants has adverse effects on the health sector in U. S. as the state has to intervene on prevention. This affects the economy of the country as the government increases taxes to cater for... This paper stresses that the high growth in economic standards over the world calls for any possible means of easing life. The fast food industry has developed due to the ease of production of its products and its cheap price. The commitments that people have do not allow them to spend much of their time because they want to beat some deadlines. They do not have time to examine how healthy the food they eat is, and its consequences. The fast food industries started in the U. S according to Schlosser, but after the gradual growth, spread to other countries where they have too established a number of branches, for example, the McDonald’s. This report makes a conclusion that the effects these companies have on the economy of U. S occur in the other countries which have started these industries. Most contents of these foods are unhealthy, and have highly contributed to the rise in obesity and overweight problems which relate other diseases like diabetes which are expensive to treat. Treatment of these diseases becomes a burden to the economy of the world. Diseases like these affect the labor input of a country and this acts as a drawback to the economy. Although the establishment of fast food industries affected the economy of the world through the health sector, it has also positively affected the global economy through the provision of labor to employees, which is a boost to the tax department.