Duke 2008 | ASHE | Equity and Efficiency in Health and Healthcare

Several authors have noted a negative relationship between obesity and select labor market outcomes, including a wage penalty resulting from excess weight. As a result, we hypothesize that obese youth will internalize these differentials and may optimally choose a lower level of educational attainment. We test this hypothesis using the 1997 NLSY cohorts. Results are consistent with this hypothesis. However, there are other hypotheses that may lead to similar results. We address each of the following. First obesity could result in reduced cognitive ability. To account for this, we replicate our results while including each participant's ASVAB score, a measure of aptitude used in military recruiting. Second, education can affect the ability of individuals to control their weight, leading to reverse causality. By using lagged weight, we are able to minimize this bias. Third, unobserved factors such as time preference are likely correlated with both weight and educational decisions. We control for omitted variable bias using individual level fixed effects. Finally, rising rates of obesity may make it more difficult for employers to use weight in hiring and compensation decisions. Therefore, the negative relationship between obesity and labor market outcomes, and as a result, obesity and educational attainment, may be diminishing over time. We test the latter hypotheses by pooling the 1997 and 1979 NSLY cohorts.