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Dollars and pounds: the impact of family income on childhood weight

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  • Y. F. Chia

Abstract

This article examines the impact of family income on childhood weight status for children in the United States using matched mother-child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY 79). Instrumental variable (IV) models, family Fixed Effects (FE) models and family Fixed Effects IV (FEIV) models are estimated in order to control for causality. The results suggest that although the prevalence of childhood obesity is higher in low-income families in the sample, family income might be acting primarily as a proxy for other unobserved characteristics that determine the child's weight status rather having a major direct causative role in determining the child's weight status.

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  • Y. F. Chia, 2013. "Dollars and pounds: the impact of family income on childhood weight," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(14), pages 1931-1941, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:45:y:2013:i:14:p:1931-1941
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2011.641929
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    Cited by:

    1. Cooper, Kerris & Stewart, Kitty, 2020. "Does household income affect children’s outcomes? A systematic review of the evidence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107029, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Cooper, Kerris & Stewart, Kitty, 2017. "Does Money Affect Children’s Outcomes? An update," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103494, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Kerris Cooper & Kitty Stewart, 2017. "Does Money Affect Children's Outcomes? An update," CASE Papers /203, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    4. Kerris Cooper & Kitty Stewart, 2021. "Does Household Income Affect children’s Outcomes? A Systematic Review of the Evidence," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(3), pages 981-1005, June.

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