The economics of weight loss, with Rebecca Diamond and Claer Barrett

In the western world, richer people tend to be thinner – especially women. But does wealth make people thin, or does being thin make them wealthy? And could the rise of weight-loss drugs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy give people – especially women – greater control over their economic outcomes? Soumaya speaks to Harvard professor Rebecca Diamond, the author of a new working paper that finds female users of GLP-1 drugs are more likely to find jobs and romantic partners. Soumaya also speaks to FT consumer editor (and GLP-1 user) Claer Barrett to discuss the drugs’ effects on consumer habits – and the economy at large.

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Further reading: 

The economics of women’s weight

Does the weight-loss revolution show up in the data?

The challenges of a weight-loss economy

Presented by Soumaya Keynes. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner. Andrew Georgiades is the broadcast engineer. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Flo Phillips if the FT's head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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