The Causal Effect of Education on Body Mass: Evidence from Europe

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Brunello, Giorgio; Fabbri, Daniele; Fort, Margherita
• 署名单位: University of Padua; University of Bologna
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/667236
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 195-223
• 关键词: health behavior; obesity; DEPRESSION; regression; variables

摘要

We adopt a multi-country setup to show that years of schooling have a causal protective effect on the body mass index of females living in nine European countries. No such effect is found for males. The protective effect for European females is not negligible but is smaller than one recently found for the United States and stronger among overweight females. We discuss possible mechanisms justifying both the protective role of education and the gender difference in this role. We argue that the effects of additional schooling on income, the probability of employment, and the frequency of vigorous physical