Body Size, Skills, and Income: Evidence From 150,000 Teenage Siblings

Petter Lundborg, Paul Nystedt, Dan-Olof Rooth

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We provide new evidence on the long-run labor market penalty of teenage overweight and obesity using unique and large-scale data on 150,000 male siblings from the Swedish military enlistment. Our empirical analysis provides four important results. First, we provide the first evidence of a large adult male labor market penalty for being overweight or obese as a teenager. Second, we replicate this result using data from the United States and the United Kingdom. Third, we note a strikingly strong within-family relationship between body size and cognitive skills/noncognitive skills. Fourth, a large part of the estimated body-size penalty reflects lower skill acquisition among overweight and obese teenagers. Taken together, these results reinforce the importance of policy combating early-life obesity in order to reduce healthcare expenditures as well as poverty and inequalities later in life.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1573-1596
JournalDemography
Volume51
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy

Free keywords

  • Obesity
  • Overweight
  • Discrimination
  • Earnings
  • Skills

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