Spillover Effects of Local Human Capital Stock on Adult Obesity: Evidence from German Neighborhoods

Rui Dang

No 805, SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research from DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

Abstract: This paper is the first to estimate the causal effect of local human capital stock on individual adiposity and adds to the existing literature on estimating human capital externalities at the neighborhood level. We explore the possible causal pathways that college-educated neighbors exert on individual body weight, with the results revealing small yet significant human capital spillover effects. Among all adults, a percentage point increase in the neighborhood college graduates share results in a decrease of individual body mass index by 0.0026 log points, as well as a decrease of the individual likelihood of being overweight by 0.77 percentage points. Among high school graduates and college graduates, a percentage point increase in the neighborhood college graduates share results in a decrease of individual likelihood of being overweight by approximately 0.83 percentage points.

Keywords: Obesity; local human capital externalities; control function; non-random sorting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I00 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51 p.
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-geo, nep-hea, nep-hrm and nep-ure
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https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.521701.de/diw_sp0805.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Spillover effects of local human capital stock on adult obesity: Evidence from German neighborhoods (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp805

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