The medical care costs of obesity: An instrumental variables approach

Cawley, John; Meyerhoefer, Chad D.

doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2011.10.003

“…Obesity and, to a lesser degree, being overweight, is significantly associated with poor health and higher mortality in general (Allison, Fontaine, Manson, Stevens, and VanItallie, 1999), and diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure in particular (Mokdad, Ford, Bowman, Dietz, Bales, and Marks, 2003). Obesity is also one of the main causes for rising health care costs (Cawley and Meyerhoefer, 2012). …”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Obesity and the labor market: A fresh look at the weight penalty

Caliendo

¹

,

Gehrsitz

²

2016

Economics & Human Biology

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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. www.econstor.eu 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 Foundation. 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. This paper applies semiparametric regression models to shed light on the relationship between body weight and labor market outcomes in Germany. We find conclusive evidence that these relationships are poorly described by linear or quadratic OLS specifications, which have been the main approaches in previous studies. Women's wages and employment probabilities do not follow a linear relationship and are highest at a body weight far below the clinical threshold of obesity. This indicates that looks, rather than health, is the driving force behind the adverse labor market outcomes to which overweight women are subject. Further support is lent to this notion by the fact that wage penalties for overweight and obese women are only observable in white-collar occupations. On the other hand, bigger appears to be better in the case of men, for whom employment prospects increase with weight, albeit with diminishing returns. However, underweight men in blue-collar jobs earn lower wages because they lack the muscular strength required in such occupations. JEL Classification:J31, J71, C14

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“…Although these trends appear beneficial, critics of how globalization has been managed also highlight the 1 Obesity is regarded as an epidemic because its one of the most important risk factors contributing to morbidity in advanced economies (Rosenbaum et al, 1997;WHO, 2002), and it accounts for a fairly large proportion of healthcare expenditures in many advanced economies (Cawley and Meyerhoefer, 2012,Knai et al, 2007, Thomson and Wolf, 2001Ebbeling et al, 2002). 2 The average revenue per ton-kilometer shipped dropped by 92 percent between 195592 percent between and 200492 percent between (Hummels, 2007.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Globesity’? The effects of globalization on obesity and caloric intake

Costa‐Font

¹

,

Mas

²

2016

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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. This study considers the effects of globalization, in its economic and social dimensions, on obesity and caloric intake. In assessing these effects using longitudinal analysis, this study adopts an extensive list of controls to account for compositional changes and effects, as well as different specifications. The results suggest a robust association between globalization and both obesity and caloric intake. A one standard deviation increase in globalization is associated with a 20 percent increase in obese population and a 4 percent rise in calorie intake. The effect remains statistically significant even with an instrument variable strategy, a lagged structure, and corrections for panel standard errors. The primary driver is social globalization, and specifically the effects of changes in information flows and social proximity. A one standard deviation increase in social globalization increased the percentage of obese population by 14.5 percent and the consumption of calories by 2.8 percent, respectively. Terms of use: Documents inJEL-Code: I180, F690, P460.

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“…In the United States, approximately one third of adults are currently classified as obese and two‐thirds as overweight (Ogden et al 2012). Obesity is associated with several diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some cancers (WHO 2000), and its direct and indirect costs are estimated at greater than $140bn annually in the United States alone (Finkelstein et al 2009; Cawley and Meyerhoefer 2012). The processes that influence excess adiposity are complex and involve numerous factors, including genetic predisposition, behavioral, environmental, social, and cultural dynamics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Socioeconomic Inequality in Obesity: Looking Beyond the Obesity Threshold

Bilger

¹

,

Kruger

²

,

Finkelstein

³

2016

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We combine two of the most widely used measures in the inequality and poverty literature, the concentration index and Foster–Greer–Thorbecke metric to the analysis of socioeconomic inequality in obesity. This enables us to describe socioeconomic inequality not only in obesity status but also in its depth and severity. We apply our method to 1971–2012 US data and show that while the socioeconomic inequality in obesity status has now almost disappeared, this is not the case when depth and severity of obesity are considered. Such socioeconomic gradient is found to be greatest among non‐Hispanic whites, but decomposition analysis also reveals an inverse relationship between income and obesity outcomes among Mexican Americans once the effect of immigrant status has been accounted for. The socioeconomic gradient is also greater among women with marital status further increasing it for severity of obesity while the opposite is true among men. Overall, the socioeconomic gradient exists as poorer individuals lie further away from the obesity threshold. Our study stresses the need for policies that jointly consider obesity and income to support those who suffer from the double burden of poverty and obesity‐related health conditions. © 2016 The Authors. Health Economics Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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The medical care costs of obesity: An instrumental variables approach

Cited by 1,244 publications

References 71 publications

Obesity and the labor market: A fresh look at the weight penalty

Obesity and the labor market: A fresh look at the weight penalty

‘Globesity’? The effects of globalization on obesity and caloric intake

Measuring Socioeconomic Inequality in Obesity: Looking Beyond the Obesity Threshold

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