General Areas of Interest: Poverty, welfare policy, health, obesity

Current Projects

• Examination of fast-food consumption by socioeconomic status
• Role of self-perception of body weight and labor market outcomes

Recent Publications:

"The Association between Socioeconomic Status and Adult Fast-Food Consumption in the U.S., " Jay Zagorsky and Patricia K. Smith Economics and Human Biology, forthcoming.

" Cutting EPA Budget Puts Babies at Risk - and Makes Little Economic Sense, " The Conversation, , April 25, 2017.

"Individual and County Level Correlates of Medicaid Births in Michigan, " Michigan Academician, forthcoming.

" Does Asthma Impair Wealth Accumulation or Does Wealth Protect Against Asthma? " Social Science Quarterly, 2016, 97(5): 1070-1081.

" Identifying Policy Approaches to Reduce Medicaid Births and Costs by Examining Cross County Variation in Michigan, " Michigan Academician, 2015, 42(1): 40 - 59.

" The Freshman 15: A Critical Time for Obesity Intervention or Media Myth? " Jay Zagorsky and Patricia K. Smith, Social Science Quarterly, 2011, 92(5): 1389 - 1407.

"Does the U.S. Food Stamp Program Contribute to Adult Weight Gain?" Jay Zagorsky and Patricia K. Smith, Economics and Human Biology, July 2009, v. 7: 246-58.

Obesity among Poor Americans: Is Public Assistance the Problem? Vanderbilt University Press, July 2009.

"Prospects for Welfare Alleviation in an Obesogenic Environment," invited chapter in Contemporary Poverty and Welfare Alleviation Issues," Patricia K. Smith, Barry Bogin, and M.I. Varela-Silva, Nova Science Publishers, 2005.

"Are Time Preference and Body Mass Index Associated? Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," Patricia K. Smith, Barry Bogin, and David Bishai, Economics and Human Biology 3: 259 - 270, 2005.

"The Economics of Anti-Begging Regulations," Patricia K. Smith, American Journal of Economics and Sociology 64(2): 549-577, April 2005.

"Obesity and the Rate of Time Preference: Is there a Connection?" John Komlos, Patricia K. Smith, and Barry Bogin, Journal of Biosocial Science, 36: 209 - 219, 2004.

"Economic and Anthropological Assessments of the Health of Children in Maya
Immigrant Families in the U.S." Patricia K. Smith, Barry Bogin and M.I. Varela
Silva, Economics and Human Biology, 1: 145 - 160, 2003.

"Rapid Change in Height and Body Proportions of Maya-American Children,"
Barry Bogin, Patricia K. Smith, B.Orden, M.I. Varela Silva, and J. Loucky,
American Journal of Human Biology, 14: 753-61, 2002.

"Does Immigration Help or Harm Children's Health: The Case of the Maya,"
Patricia K. Smith, B. Bogin, M.I. Varela Silva, B. Orden, and James Loucky,
Social Science Quarterly, 83 (4): 994-1002, Dec. 2002.

"Facilitating Student Experimentation with Statistical Concepts," Patricia K.
Smith, Journal of Economic Education, v. 33(3): 295, 2002.