IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/iecrev/v60y2019i2p631-660.html

The Impact Of Body Weight On Occupational Mobility And Career Development

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew C. Harris

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between individuals' weight and employment decisions over the life cycle. I estimate a dynamic stochastic model of individuals' annual choices of occupation, hours worked, and schooling. Evidence suggests that heavier individuals face higher switching costs when transitioning into white‐collar occupations, earn lower returns to experience in white‐collar occupations, and earn lower wages in socially intensive jobs. I simulate a hypothetical antidiscrimination policy treating obese workers as a protected class. Although such a policy would reduce gaps in occupational attainment, it would have little effect on the observed divergence in wages between obese and nonobese workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew C. Harris, 2019. "The Impact Of Body Weight On Occupational Mobility And Career Development," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(2), pages 631-660, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:iecrev:v:60:y:2019:i:2:p:631-660
    DOI: 10.1111/iere.12364
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/iere.12364
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/iere.12364?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Grégory Jolivet & Fabien Postel-Vinay, 2025. "A Structural Analysis of Mental Health and Labour Market Trajectories," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 92(3), pages 1920-1954.
    2. Bastian Ravesteijn & Hans van Kippersluis & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2018. "The wear and tear on health: What is the role of occupation?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 69-86, February.
    3. Donna B. Gilleskie, 2021. "In sickness and in health, until death do us part: A case for theory," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(3), pages 753-768, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:iecrev:v:60:y:2019:i:2:p:631-660. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deupaus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.