SHIN-YI CHOU, Ph.D.
Associate professor, Economics
Ph.D.: Economics, Duke University, 1986
Undergraduate: National Taiwan University
Shin-Yi Chou recently co-authored the largest study of its kind linking fast-food ads during children's shows to our nation's childhood obesity epidemic. Chou found that a ban on fast-food television advertisements during children's programming would reduce the number of overweight children ages 3-11 by 18 percent, while also lowering the number of overweight adolescents ages 12-18 by 14 percent.
The authors also question whether such a high degree of government involvement-and the costs of implementing such policies-is a practical option. Currently, Sweden, Norway and Finland are the only countries to have banned commercial sponsorship of children's programs.