Obesity and sex ratios in the U.S

Wanchuan Lin, Kathryn McEvilly and Juan Pantano ()
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Wanchuan Lin: Guanghua School of Management, Peking University
Kathryn McEvilly: Duke Law School, Duke University
Juan Pantano: Washington University in St. Louis

Review of Economics of the Household, 2016, vol. 14, issue 2, No 2, 269-292

Abstract: Abstract This paper studies how rising male incarceration and its impact on marriage markets has affected female incentives to gain weight. Exogenous variation in marriage market conditions is obtained from differential trends in male incarceration rates across markets defined by race, location and age. We provide evidence that marriage market conditions do in fact affect the incidence of obesity. In particular, we find that increases in male imprisonment that reduced the male–female sex-ratio explain about 18 % of the increase in the female obesity rate for African-Americans in the United States over the 1990s. Results are particularly large for those in the younger age group (ages 18–23).

Keywords: Obesity; Marriage markets; Incarceration; Sex ratio (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I14 J11 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11150-014-9269-2

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