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The Impact of Obesity on Consumer Bankruptcy

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  • Guettabi, Mouhcine
  • Munasib, Abdul

Abstract

Over the last two decades, both bankruptcy and obesity rates in the U.S. have seen a steady rise. As obesity is one of the leading causes of medical and morbidity related economic costs, its influence on personal bankruptcy is analyzed in this study. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we employ a duration model to investigate the relative importance of obesity on the timing of bankruptcy. Even after accounting for possible endogeneity of BMI and controlling for a wide variety of individual and aggregate-level confounding factors, being obese puts one at a greater risk of filing for bankruptcy.

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  • Guettabi, Mouhcine & Munasib, Abdul, 2015. "The Impact of Obesity on Consumer Bankruptcy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 208-224.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:17:y:2015:i:c:p:208-224
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2014.11.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Kinge, Jonas Minet, 2016. "Waist circumference, body mass index and employment outcomes," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2016:4, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.
    2. Kuroki, Masanori, 2020. "Obesity and bankruptcy: Evidence from US counties," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    3. Mien, Toh Siaw & Said, Rusmawati, 2018. "A Cross-sectional Household Analysis of Household Consumption Patterns: An Indirect Approach to Identify the Possible Factors of Personal Bankruptcy," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 52(3), pages 231-246.
    4. Jonas Minet Kinge, 2017. "Waist circumference, body mass index, and employment outcomes," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 18(6), pages 787-799, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Personal bankruptcy; BMI; Obesity; Survival analysis; Relative risk Cox model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance

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