Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/195021 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Citation: 
[Journal:] IZA Journal of Labor Economics [ISSN:] 2193-8997 [Volume:] 6 [Issue:] 9 [Publisher:] Springer [Place:] Heidelberg [Year:] 2017 [Pages:] 1-30
Publisher: 
Springer, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
Is BMI related to hours of work through marriage market mechanisms? We empirically explore this issue using data from the NLSY79 and NLSY97 and a number of estimation strategies (including OLS, IV, and sibling FE). Our IV estimates (with same-sex sibling's BMI as an instrument and a large set of controls including wage) suggest that a one-unit increase in BMI leads to an almost 2% increase in White married women's hours of work. However, BMI is not associated with hours of work of married men. We also find that a one-unit increase in BMI leads to a 1.4% increase in White single women's hours of work, suggesting that single women may expect future in-marriage transfers that vary by body weight. We show that the positive association between BMI and hours of work of White single women increases with self-assessed probability of future marriage and varies with expected cumulative spousal income. Comparisons between the association between BMI and hours of work for White and Black married women suggest a possible racial gap in intra-marriage transfers from husbands to wives.
Subjects: 
Obesity
Labor supply
Marriage
Marriage market
Gender
Race
Intra-household bargaining
Personal finances
JEL: 
J22
I12
J12
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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