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Changes in BMI in a Cohort of Irish Children: Some Decompositions and Counterfactuals

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  • David (David Patrick) Madden

Abstract

This paper examines the change in body mass index for a cohort of Irish children as they aged from 9 to 13 and decomposes the change into parts attributable to changes in observable characteristics and changes in returns to observable characteristics. The decomposition is carried out over the whole of the distribution, with a particular focus on the upper percentiles and a number of different decomposition techniques are applied and compared. The overall increase in BMI at higher percentiles is modest and is over-explained by the change in characteristics and is not sensitive to the adopted technique. The paper also carries out a number of partial equilibrium counterfactuals examining the impact of non-marginal changes in variables such as exercise and maternal education. The impact of these counterfactuals is limited.

Suggested Citation

  • David (David Patrick) Madden, 2018. "Changes in BMI in a Cohort of Irish Children: Some Decompositions and Counterfactuals," Working Papers 201802, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201802
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/9443
    File Function: First version, 2018
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Madden, David, 2017. "Childhood obesity and maternal education in Ireland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 27(PA), pages 114-125.
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    4. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Cawley, John, 2008. "Beyond BMI: The value of more accurate measures of fatness and obesity in social science research," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 519-529, March.
    5. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    6. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    7. B. Essama-Nssah & Peter J. Lambert, 2011. "Influence functions for distributional statistics," Working Papers 236, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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