This paper investigates the channels through which maternal employment affects childhood obesity. We use time diaries and interview responses from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics which combine information on children's time allocation and mother's labor force participation. Our empirical strategy involves estimating the effect of children's activities and meal routines on BMI, estimating the effect of maternal employment on these activities and routines and then combining these two estimates. We find that maternal employment affects child weight through two main mechanismssupervision and nutrition, however, the particular channels vary by mother's education.

This article describes a Bayesian hierarchical model for factor analysis of spatially correlated multivariate data. The rst level speci es, for each area on a map, the distribution of a vector of manifest variables conditional on an underlying latent factor; at the second level, the areaspeci c latent factors have a joint distribution that incorporates spatial correlation. The framework allows for both marginal and conditional (e.g., conditional autoregressive) speci cations of spatial correlation. The model is used to quantify material deprivation at the census tract level using data from the 1990 U.S. Census in Rhode Island. An existing and widely used measure of material deprivation is the Townsend index, an unweighted sum of four standardized census variables (i.e., Z scores) corresponding to area-level proportions of unemployment, car ownership, crowding, and home ownership. The Townsend and many related indices are computed as linear combinations of measured census variables, which motivates the factor-analytic structure adopted here. The model-based index is the posterior expectation of the latent factor, given the census variables and model parameters. Index construction based on a model allows several improvements over Townsend's and similarly constructed indices: (1) The index can be represented as a weighted sum of (standardized) census variables, with data-driven weights; (2) by using posterior summaries, the indices can be reported with corresponding measures of uncertainty; and (3) incorporating information from neighboring areas improves precision of the posterior parameter distributions. Using data from Rhode Island census tracts, we apply our model to summarize variations in material deprivation across the state. Our analysis entertains various spatial covariance structures. We summarize the relative contributions of each census variable to the latent index, suggest ways to report material deprivation at the area level, and compare our model-based summaries with those found by applying the standard Townsend index.KEY WORDS: Conditional autoregressive model; Health inequalities; Latent variable; Posterior rank; Small-area estimation; Socioeconomic status; Townsend index. FACTOR ANALYSIS AND SPATIAL DATAFactor-analytic models are useful for summarizing variance and covariance patterns in multivariate data. A common formulation of factor analysis assumes that measurable variables, such as scores on a test, are manifestations of an underlying latent construct, such as ability or intelligence. The latent variable formulation can be useful for data reduction, that is, summarizing multivariate observations using a lowerdimensional variable. A thorough review has been given by Bartholomew and Knott (1999, chaps. 1-3). Recent work from a Bayesian perspective has been done by Geweke and Zhou (1996), Press and Shigamesu (1997), Aguilar and West (2000), and Rowe (2002).Multivariate spatial data can arise in a number of applied contexts. Wang andWall (2001, 2003) studied multivariate indicators of cancer ris...

Much of the research in labor economics during the 1980s and the early 1990s was devoted to the analysis of changes in the wage structure across many of the world's economies. Only recently, has research turned to the analysis of mobility in its various guises. From the life cycle perspective, decreased wage mobility and increased job instability, makes the phenomenon of increasing wage inequality more severe than it appears to be at first sight. In general, workers' wages may change through two channels: (a) return to their firm-specific human capital (seniority); or (b) inter-firm wage mobility.Our theoretical model gives rise to three equations: (1) a participation equation; (2) a wage equation; and (3) an interfirm mobility equation. In this model the wage equation is estimated simultaneously with the two decision equations. We use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to estimate the model for three education groups. Our main finding is that returns to seniority are quite high for all education groups. On the other hand, the returns to experience appear to be similar to those previously found in the literature.

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post World Net. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. In light of the recent rise in childhood obesity, the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP) have received renewed attention. Using panel data on over 13,500 primary school students, we assess the relationship between SBP and NSLP participation and (relatively) long-run measures of child weight. After documenting a positive association between SBP participation and child weight, and no association between NSLP participation and child weight, we present evidence indicating positive selection into the SBP. Allowing for even modest positive selection is sufficient to alter the results, indicating that the SBP is a valuable tool in the current battle against childhood obesity, whereas the NSLP exacerbates the current epidemic.JEL Classification: C31, H51, I18, I28

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