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Title: Three Essays on the Economics of Obesity
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2010
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Abstract: The literature examining the relationship between obesity and wages has fairly consistently found that BMI has a negative impact on earnings for women, and less (if any) consequences for men. In the first study in my dissertation, co-authored with Christopher J. Ruhm, we relax the assumption–largely unquestioned in this research–that the conditional mean of wages is linear or piecewise linear in body mass index (BMI). Using data from the 1986 and 1999-2005 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we estimate semi-parametric wage models that allow earnings to vary with BMI in a highly flexible manner. For women, the results show that earnings peak at levels far below the conventional threshold of obesity or even overweight. For men, our main estimates suggest a reasonably flat BMI-wage profile that peaks early in the "overweight" category. The findings for females (and the IV estimates for males) suggest that it is not obesity but rather some other factor – such as physical attractiveness – that may be producing the observed relationship between BMI and wages. In the second essay of this dissertation, I examine the effect of obesity–and body mass more generally–on wages across the age distribution, using conventional parametric and more flexible semiparametric approaches. My parametric results suggest that the literature may overstate the effect of BMI and obesity on wages for women and almost certainly understates any negative association for men. For women, my results show that the negative effects of BMI and obesity are concentrated among women between 25 and 35 years old. While women in this age group experience an average 0.5 to 0.7 percent decrease in wages for each point increase in body mass (roughly 7.5 pounds), women over 40 will suer a 0.25 percent decrease in wages for each extra point of body mass, and may not experience any wage penalty at all. Similarly, women who are 31-35 years old experience a 7.7 percent decrease in wages for being obese, while women over 40 experience only a 3.9 percent decrease. . .
Url: https://search.proquest.com/docview/366770393/abstract/A984D73D7E234E57PQ/1?accountid=14586
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Authors: Gregory, Christian, A
Institution: The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Department: School of Business & Economics: Economics
Advisor: Ruhm, Christopher J.
Degree: Ph.D.
Publisher Location: Greensboro, North Carolina
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Data Collections: IPUMS Health Surveys - NHIS
Topics: Health, Population Health and Health Systems
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