Avner Offer is Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of All Souls College and of the British Academy. He was born and educated in Israel, graduated from the Hebrew University, and took his D.Phil. at Oxford. He initially studied land tenure, international political economy and the economics of war, and published Property and Politics 1870-1914 (CUP, 1981), and The First World War: An Agrarian Interpretation (OUP, 1989) as well as many articles. Subsequently he has focused on consumption and the quality of life (e.g. ed. In Pursuit of the Quality of Life (OUP, 1996)), and more recently, The Challenge of Affluence: Self-control and Well-Being in the United States and Britain since 1950 (OUP, 2006)).Rachel Pechey is Research Officer at the Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity, University of Oxford. She graduated from the University of Durham, taking Psychology with Mathematics, and completed her MSc and PhD at Cardiff University. Her initial work focused on investigating subclinical symptoms of psychosis (in particular, delusions) in the general population. Subsequently she became involved in obesity research, in particular, looking at political and economic factors that have been implicated in the development of obesity at the population level.Stanley Ulijaszek is Professor of Human Ecology and Director, Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity, at the University of Oxford, and Vice-Master of St Cross College Oxford. He is associate editor of Homo. Journal of Comparative Human Biology, and book review editor of the Journal of Biosocial Science. He graduated from the University of Manchester in Biochemistry, and took his PhD at the University of London (King's College). His work on nutritional ecology and anthropology has involved fieldwork and research in Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, Sarawak and South Asia.

• 1: Introduction2: Jon Wisman and Kevin Capehart: Creative Destruction, Economic Insecurity, Stress, and Epidemic ObesityPart 1: Biological Fundamentals3: Robin Dunbar: Obesity: An Evolutionary Perspective4.: Trent Smith: Behavioural Biology and ObesityPart 2: Social Stress5.: Adam Drewnowski: Spatial Analyses of Obesity and Poverty6: Ruth Bell: Spatial Analyses of Obesity and Poverty7: Peter Whybrow: Time Urgency, Sleep Loss and ObesityPart 3: Sicuak Diffusion of Obesity and its Causes8: John Komlos: The Transition to Post-Industrial BMI Values in the United States9: Thorkild Sorensen: The History of the Obesity Epidemic in Denmark10: Kate Pickett: Income Inequality and Psychosocial Pathways to Obesity11: Avner Offer: 1. Obesity Under Affluence Varies by Welfare Regimes

Avner Offer is Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of All Souls College and of the British Academy. He was born and educated in Israel, graduated from the Hebrew University, and took his D.Phil. at Oxford. He initially studied land tenure, international political economy and the economics of war, and published Property and Politics 1870-1914 (CUP, 1981), and The First World War: An Agrarian Interpretation (OUP, 1989) as well as many articles. Subsequently he has focused on consumption and the quality of life (e.g. ed. In Pursuit of the Quality of Life (OUP, 1996)), and more recently, The Challenge of Affluence: Self-control and Well-Being in the United States and Britain since 1950 (OUP, 2006)).Rachel Pechey is Research Officer at the Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity, University of Oxford. She graduated from the University of Durham, taking Psychology with Mathematics, and completed her MSc and PhD at Cardiff University. Her initial work focused on investigating subclinical symptoms of psychosis (in particular, delusions) in the general population. Subsequently she became involved in obesity research, in particular, looking at political and economic factors that have been implicated in the development of obesity at the population level.Stanley Ulijaszek is Professor of Human Ecology and Director, Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity, at the University of Oxford, and Vice-Master of St Cross College Oxford. He is associate editor of Homo. Journal of Comparative Human Biology, and book review editor of the Journal of Biosocial Science. He graduated from the University of Manchester in Biochemistry, and took his PhD at the University of London (King's College). His work on nutritional ecology and anthropology has involved fieldwork and research in Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, Sarawak and South Asia.

• 1: Introduction2: Jon Wisman and Kevin Capehart: Creative Destruction, Economic Insecurity, Stress, and Epidemic ObesityPart 1: Biological Fundamentals3: Robin Dunbar: Obesity: An Evolutionary Perspective4.: Trent Smith: Behavioural Biology and ObesityPart 2: Social Stress5.: Adam Drewnowski: Spatial Analyses of Obesity and Poverty6: Ruth Bell: Spatial Analyses of Obesity and Poverty7: Peter Whybrow: Time Urgency, Sleep Loss and ObesityPart 3: Sicuak Diffusion of Obesity and its Causes8: John Komlos: The Transition to Post-Industrial BMI Values in the United States9: Thorkild Sorensen: The History of the Obesity Epidemic in Denmark10: Kate Pickett: Income Inequality and Psychosocial Pathways to Obesity11: Avner Offer: 1. Obesity Under Affluence Varies by Welfare Regimes

Avner Offer is Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of All Souls College and of the British Academy. He was born and educated in Israel, graduated from the Hebrew University, and took his D.Phil. at Oxford. He initially studied land tenure, international political economy and the economics of war, and published Property and Politics 1870-1914 (CUP, 1981), and The First World War: An Agrarian Interpretation (OUP, 1989) as well as many articles. Subsequently he has focused on consumption and the quality of life (e.g. ed. In Pursuit of the Quality of Life (OUP, 1996)), and more recently, The Challenge of Affluence: Self-control and Well-Being in the United States and Britain since 1950 (OUP, 2006)).Rachel Pechey is Research Officer at the Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity, University of Oxford. She graduated from the University of Durham, taking Psychology with Mathematics, and completed her MSc and PhD at Cardiff University. Her initial work focused on investigating subclinical symptoms of psychosis (in particular, delusions) in the general population. Subsequently she became involved in obesity research, in particular, looking at political and economic factors that have been implicated in the development of obesity at the population level.Stanley Ulijaszek is Professor of Human Ecology and Director, Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity, at the University of Oxford, and Vice-Master of St Cross College Oxford. He is associate editor of Homo. Journal of Comparative Human Biology, and book review editor of the Journal of Biosocial Science. He graduated from the University of Manchester in Biochemistry, and took his PhD at the University of London (King's College). His work on nutritional ecology and anthropology has involved fieldwork and research in Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, Sarawak and South Asia.

• 1: Introduction2: Jon Wisman and Kevin Capehart: Creative Destruction, Economic Insecurity, Stress, and Epidemic ObesityPart 1: Biological Fundamentals3: Robin Dunbar: Obesity: An Evolutionary Perspective4.: Trent Smith: Behavioural Biology and ObesityPart 2: Social Stress5.: Adam Drewnowski: Spatial Analyses of Obesity and Poverty6: Ruth Bell: Spatial Analyses of Obesity and Poverty7: Peter Whybrow: Time Urgency, Sleep Loss and ObesityPart 3: Sicuak Diffusion of Obesity and its Causes8: John Komlos: The Transition to Post-Industrial BMI Values in the United States9: Thorkild Sorensen: The History of the Obesity Epidemic in Denmark10: Kate Pickett: Income Inequality and Psychosocial Pathways to Obesity11: Avner Offer: 1. Obesity Under Affluence Varies by Welfare Regimes