TY  - JOUR
AU  - Han,Euna
AU  - Norton,Edward C.
AU  - Powell,Lisa M.
TI  - Direct and Indirect Effects of Teenage Body Weight on Adult Wages
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15027
PY  - 2009
Y2  - June 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15027
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15027.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Euna Han
Institute for Health Research
and Policy (MC 275)
University of Illinois at Chicago
1747 West Roosvelt Road, Room 449
Chicago, Illinois 60608
Tel: 312-996-6824
Fax: 312-355-2801
E-Mail: eunahan@uic.edu

Edward C. Norton
Department of Health Management and Policy
Department of Economics
University of Michigan
School of Public Health
1415 Washington Heights, M3108 SPHII
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029
Tel: 734/615-5738
Fax: 734/764-4338
E-Mail: ecnorton@umich.edu

Lisa Powell
Institute for Health Research and Policy
University of Illinois at Chicago
1747 W. Roosevelt Road
Rm 558, MC275
Chicago, IL 60608
Tel: 312-413-8468
Fax: 312-355-2801
E-Mail: powelll@uic.edu
AB  - Previous estimates on the association between body weight and wages in the literature have been contingent on education and occupation. This paper examines the direct effect of BMI on wages and the indirect effects operating through education and occupation choice, particularly for late-teen BMI and adult wages. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data, we show that education is the main pathway for the indirect BMI wage penalty. The total BMI wage penalty is underestimated by 18% for women without including those indirect effects. Whereas for men there is no statistically significant direct BMI wage penalty, we do observe a small indirect wage penalty through education.
ER  -