Such an interesting header and such a disappointing content!
I grew up in Latvia and, trust me, the levels of corruption in Latvia are astonishing and are only limited by a relatively small budget. Yet, people are generally quite slim, and the biggest politicians are mostly sleek, tall and quite good looking.<p>This study needs a LOT more insight. It basically says that there is correlation with the exception of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and sometimes Ukraine. Well, that's basically all the Western/European post-USSR space, which is a lot, so it diminishes the entire thesis.<p>Also, countries like Tajikistan were affected by starvation after the WW2 a lot more than the Baltic States, which this study doesn't mention. Several years ago Ukraine were commemorating people who have been through Holodomor, which was also a period of severe starvation in Ukrainian SSR imposed by the collectivism after the WW2, and I remember seeing this guy receiving a medal for it... The guy was morbidly obese. So, in my opinion, it would be useful to look into the correlation of financial struggle in the USSR era and the modern attitude towards food and things that were not easily obtainable back in the USSR.