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Does Economic Insecurity Cause Weight Gain Among Canadian Labor Force Participants?

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  • Barry Watson

Abstract

The National Population Health Survey (NPHS) suggests that for labor force participants age 25 to 64, the prevalence of self†reported obesity in Canada has increased from 16 percent in 1998 to 23 percent in 2008. Using six cycles of NPHS data (1998–2009), I explore Canada's obesity dilemma by considering the effect of economic insecurity—measured as the probability of an individual experiencing a severe negative economic shock. As an identification strategy, a fixed effects model is employed to control for unobserved time†invariant heterogeneity and a set of instruments based on an individual's economic environment are specified in order to isolate causality. Results suggest that for males age 25 to 64, a 1 percent increase in economic insecurity is predicted to increase their body mass index (BMI) by 0.10 points. For females age 25 to 64, the association between economic insecurity and BMI is statistically insignificant at conventional confidence levels.

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  • Barry Watson, 2018. "Does Economic Insecurity Cause Weight Gain Among Canadian Labor Force Participants?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 406-427, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:64:y:2018:i:2:p:406-427
    DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12293
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    1. Jatta Salmela & Tea Lallukka & Elina Mauramo & Ossi Rahkonen & Noora Kanerva, 2020. "Body Mass Index Trajectory–Specific Changes in Economic Circumstances: A Person-Oriented Approach Among Midlife and Ageing Finns," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-13, May.
    2. Cantó, Olga & García-Pérez, Carmelo & Romaguera-de-la-Cruz, Marina, 2020. "The dimension, nature and distribution of economic insecurity in European countries: A multidimensional approach," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(3).
    3. Namal N. Balasooriya & Jayatilleke S. Bandara & Nicholas Rohde, 2021. "The intergenerational effects of socioeconomic inequality on unhealthy bodyweight," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 729-747, April.
    4. Dimitrios V. Diamantis & Kalliopi Karatzi & Paris Kantaras & Stavros Liatis & Violeta Iotova & Yulia Bazdraska & Tsvetalina Tankova & Greet Cardon & Katja Wikström & Imre Rurik & Emese Antal & Alelí M, 2022. "Prevalence and Socioeconomic Correlates of Adult Obesity in Europe: The Feel4Diabetes Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-15, October.
    5. Rohde, Nicholas, 2023. "Economic insecurity, nativism, and the erosion of institutional trust," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1017-1028.
    6. Watson, Barry & Osberg, Lars, 2019. "Can positive income anticipations reverse the mental health impacts of negative income anxieties?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 107-122.
    7. Dmitry Petrov & Marina Romaguera-de-la-Cruz, 2023. "Measuring economic insecurity with a joint income-wealth approach," Working Papers 637, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    8. Kong, Nancy & Osberg, Lars & Zhou, Weina, 2019. "The shattered “Iron Rice Bowl”: Intergenerational effects of Chinese State-Owned Enterprise reform," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    9. Watson, Barry & Daley, Angela & Rohde, Nicholas & Osberg, Lars, 2020. "Blown off-course? Weight gain among the economically insecure during the great recession," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. Olga Cantó & Carmelo García-Pérez & Marina Romaguera de la Cruz, 2021. "Multidimensional Measures of Economic Insecurity in Spain: The Role of Aggregation and Weighting Methods," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 238(3), pages 29-60, September.

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