Indebted and Overweight: The Link Between Weight and Household Debt

Susan Averett () and Julie Smith

No 6898, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: There is a substantial correlation between household debt and bodyweight. Theory suggests that a causal relationship between debt and bodyweight could run in either direction or both could be caused by unobserved common factors. We use OLS and Propensity Score Matching to ascertain if household debt (measured by credit card indebtedness and having trouble paying bills) is a potential cause of obesity. We find a strong positive correlation between debt and weight for women but this seems driven largely by unobservables. In contrast, men with trouble paying their bills are thinner and this is robust to various specification checks.

Keywords: propensity score matching; credit card debt; obesity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I12 I14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2012-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published as 'Financial hardship and obesity' in: Economics and Human Biology, 2014, 15, 201-212

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