Economic Insecurity and the Spread of Obesity in Social Networks

Michael Barnes, Trenton Smith () and Jonathan Yoder ()

No 2010-2, Working Papers from School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University

Abstract: A number of recent studies have provided evidence suggesting that increases in body weight may spread via social networks. The mechanism(s) by which this might occur have become the subject of much speculation, but to date little direct evidence has been available. We provide evidence for one such mechanism: economic insecurity. Using a sample of working-age men from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we show that cohabitation with working (but not non-working) adults appears to be protective against weight gain. We address the potential endogeneity of the independent variable by employing instrumental variables in our regression analysis.

Keywords: overweight; contagion; obesity; networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14 pages
Date: 2010-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-soc
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