The rising rate of obesity has reached epidemic proportions and is now one of the most serious public health challenges facing the U.S. (U.S. DHHS, 2001). But the underlying causes for this increase are unclear. This paper adds to the causal literature on this topic by exploring the importance of exogenous increases in family income on obesity measured using Body Mass Index (BMI) in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort. It does so by using exogenous variation in family income in a sample of low-income women and men obtained from the correlation of their family income with differences in the level of their state's Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) supplement and variations in the federal EITC. Income significantly raises the BMI of EITC eligible men and women. An additional $1,000 increases men's (women's) BMI by 0.5 (1.4) pounds. These results imply that family income increases from 1990 to 2002 explain 3 percent of men's BMI increases and 15 percent women's BMI increases in the sample. JEL classifications: I12; I18; I38

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