The labour market impact of body weight in China: a semiparametric analysis

Abstract

While a positive wage effect of Body Mass Index (BMI) is widely observed in low-income developing countries, a negative wage effect of BMI is often observed in high-income developed countries. To fill the gap between these previous findings, we investigate the relationship between body weight and wages in transition economies. We focus on China, whose rapid economic growth of the 1990s was followed by a rapid increase in overweight and obesity while still experiencing significant food insecurity and underweight. we first use several parametric regression strategies to obtain a consistent estimate of the wage effects of weight. Second, we adopt a semiparametric partially linear model that allows for endogeneity of weight. Parametric regressions provide mixed results, and the sign and magnitude of their estimates are sensitive to the choice of samples and regression strategies. Semiparametric estimates provide evidence of a wage penalty for very heavy and thin persons among both men and women. The wage penalty is more significant among men than among women. Semiparametric results also indicate that parametric estimates can overstate and misrepresent the wage effects of weight for healthy weight persons due to their restrictive functional form assumptions.

Where Does the Wage Penalty Bite?

“…that are unrelated to BMI and then provide a local linear regression estimate showing the relationship of this residual to BMI itself. We estimate confidence intervals using the "wild" bootstrap algorithm outlined by Yatchew (1998, 688) and Yatchew (2003, 160ff (Shimokawa 2008;Yatchew 2003).…”

“…Even more recent has been the adoption of semiparametric methods. Shimokawa (2008) used data from China to estimate semiparametric models and fi nds that wages are lower for men and women in the tails of the BMI distribution. Kline and Tobias (2008), using data from the 1970 British Cohort study, found that marginal increases in BMI are most harmful for men who are overweight or obese and for women in the "healthy" weight range.…”

Decomposing the effect of height on income in China: The role of market and political channels

“…The third is studies examining the changing role of Party membership in obtaining elite occupations and other benefits (Li & Walder, 2001;Walder, 1995). The fourth is studies examining the economic returns to physical appearance in the Chinese labor market, including height (Gao & Smyth, 2010) and weight (Shimokawa, 2008).…”

“…Returns to human capital have increased over the market reform period (Gao & Smyth, 2015). Studies have identified that physical appearance captured by beauty (Hamermesh et al, 2002), height (Gao & Smyth, 2010) and weight (Shimokawa, 2008) earn economic rents/penalties. While the market has increased in importance in the allocation of resources, the wage premium from being a Party member has not declined.…”

“…Hamermesh and Biddle 1994;Biddle & Hamermesh 1998;Borland & Leigh, 2014;Hamermesh et al, 2002). 2 Weight is also observed to affect wage levels (Brunello & D'hombres, 2007;Shimokawa 2008). 3 Other studies have examined the relationship between height and living standards in China (Morgan 2000;2004) and the role of height in dating in China (Ong, 2014).…”