TY  - JOUR
AU  - Mocan,Naci H.
AU  - Tekin,Erdal
TI  - Obesity, Self-esteem and Wages
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15101
PY  - 2009
Y2  - June 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15101
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15101.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Naci H. Mocan
Department of Economics
Louisiana State University
2119 Patrick F. Taylor Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-6306
Tel: 225/578-4570
E-Mail: mocan@lsu.edu

Erdal Tekin
Department of Economics
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3992
Atlanta, GA 30302-3992
Tel: 404/413-0163
Fax: 404/413-0145
E-Mail: tekin@gsu.edu
M1  - published as Naci Mocan, Erdal Tekin. "Obesity, Self-Esteem and Wages," in Michael Grossman and Naci H. Mocan, editors, "Economic Aspects of Obesity" University of Chicago Press (2011)

M3  - presented at "Economic Aspects of Obesity", November 10-11, 2008
AB  - Obesity is associated with serious health problems, and it can generate adverse economic outcomes.  We analyze a nationally-representative sample of young American adults to investigate the interplay between obesity, wages and self-esteem.  Wages can be impacted directly by obesity, and they can be influenced by obesity indirectly through the channel of obesity to self-esteem to wages.  We find that female wages are directly influenced by body weight, and self-esteem has an impact on wages in case of whites. Being overweight or obese has a negative impact on the self-esteem of females and of black males.  The results suggest that obesity has the most significant impact on white women’s wages.
ER  -