Highly processed corn-based food products, with lots of chemical additives, are well known to be a major driver of weight gain, but, from a conventional growth-accounting perspective, they are great stuff. Big agriculture gets paid for growing the corn (often subsidized by the government), and the food processors get paid for adding tons of chemicals to create a habit-forming – and thus irresistible – product.
但肥胖的蔓延对经济增长却鲜有坏处。众所周知，精加工的玉米食品及大量添加剂是体重上升的主要推手，但从传统增长核算的角度，它们却是非常好的东西。大农业种植玉米并从中获利（通常还能拿到政府补贴），食品加工企业则添加数以吨计的化学品，最终生产的产品让人成瘾，因而也就无法抗拒。整个链条中，科学家负责找到精确的盐、糖和化学添加剂配比使新发明的速食食品最让人上瘾；广告商负责推销；最后，医疗保健业从治疗不可避免的疾病中赚取大量财富。