The impact of income on the weight of elderly Americans.

This paper tests whether income affects the body weight and clinical weight classification of elderly Americans using a natural experiment that led otherwise identical retirees to receive significantly different Social Security payments based on their year of birth. We exploit this natural experiment by estimating models of instrumental variables using data from the National Health Interview Surveys. The model estimates rule out even moderate effects of income on weight and on the probability of being underweight or obese, especially for men.

[1]  Maximilian D. Schmeiser,et al.  Expanding Wallets and Waistlines: The Impact of Family Income on the BMI of Women and Men Eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit , 2008, Health economics.

[2]  L. Moreno,et al.  Chronic stress and obesity in adolescents: scientific evidence and methodological issues for epidemiological research. , 2009, Nutrition, metabolism, and cardiovascular diseases : NMCD.

[3]  J. Greve.  Obesity and labor market outcomes in Denmark. , 2008, Economics and human biology.

[4]  E. Norton,et al.  Genetic information, obesity, and labor market outcomes. , 2008, Health economics.

[5]  C. Himes,et al.  Cohort Differences in Adult Obesity in the United States: 1982—2002 , 2007, Journal of aging and health.

[6]  Jalpa A Doshi,et al.  Prevalence and trends in obesity among aged and disabled U.S. Medicare beneficiaries, 1997-2002. , 2007, Health affairs.

[7]  B. d’Hombres,et al.  Does body weight affect wages? Evidence from Europe. , 2007, Economics and human biology.

[8]  W. Evans,et al.  The Effect of Income on Mortality: Evidence from the Social Security Notch , 2006, The Review of Economics and Statistics.

[9]  T. Harris,et al.  Overweight, obesity, and mortality in a large prospective cohort of persons 50 to 71 years old. , 2006, The New England journal of medicine.

[10]  R. Burkhauser,et al.  Beyond BMI: The Value of More Accurate Measures of Fatness and Obesity in Social Science Research , 2006, Journal of health economics.

[11]  C. Kawas,et al.  Association of body mass index and weight change with all-cause mortality in the elderly. , 2006, American journal of epidemiology.

[12]  K. Flegal,et al.  Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004. , 2006, JAMA.

[13]  S. Morris.  Body mass index and occupational attainment. , 2006, Journal of health economics.

[14]  D. Lauderdale,et al.  Income disparities in body mass index and obesity in the United States, 1971-2002. , 2005, Archives of internal medicine.

[15]  Baoping Shang,et al.  The health and cost consequences of obesity among the future elderly. , 2005, Health affairs.

[16]  T. Harris,et al.  Health consequences of obesity in the elderly: a review of four unresolved questions , 2005, International Journal of Obesity.

[17]  N. Sood,et al.  Health Insurance and the Obesity Externality , 2005, Advances in health economics and health services research.

[18]  Michael D. Frakes,et al.  Does Falling Smoking Lead to Rising Obesity? , 2005, Journal of health economics.

[19]  Jeffrey R. Brown,et al.  Alternative Methods of Price Indexing Social Security: Implications for Benefits and System Financing , 2005, National Tax Journal.

[20]  T. Philipson,et al.  Welfare-Enhancing Technological Change and the Growth of Obesity. , 2005, The American economic review.

[21]  John R. Moran,et al.  Income and the Use of Prescription Drugs by the Elderly , 2004, The Journal of Human Resources.

[22]  D. Arterburn,et al.  The Coming Epidemic of Obesity in Elderly Americans , 2004, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[23]  J. Cawley.  An economic framework for understanding physical activity and eating behaviors. , 2004, American journal of preventive medicine.

[24]  C. Apovian.  Sugar-sweetened soft drinks, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. , 2004, JAMA.

[25]  C. Arbeeny.  Addressing the unmet medical need for safe and effective weight loss therapies. , 2004, Obesity research.

[26]  K. Flegal,et al.  Prevalence of overweight and obesity among US children, adolescents, and adults, 1999-2002. , 2004, JAMA.

[27]  Hideo Makimura,et al.  Obesity over the life course. , 2004, Science of aging knowledge environment : SAGE KE.

[28]  J. Cawley.  The Impact of Obesity on Wages , 2004, The Journal of Human Resources.

[29]  Jeffrey M. Wooldridge,et al.  Solutions Manual and Supplementary Materials for Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data , 2003 .

[30]  E. Finkelstein,et al.  National medical spending attributable to overweight and obesity: how much, and who's paying? , 2003, Health affairs.

[31]  G. Kollmann.  Social Security Notch Issue: A Summary , 2003 .

[32]  James O. Hill,et al.  Obesity and the Environment: Where Do We Go from Here? , 2003, Science.

[33]  K. Fujioka,et al.  Management of obesity as a chronic disease: nonpharmacologic, pharmacologic, and surgical options. , 2002, Obesity Research.

[34]  Laura Kettel Khan,et al.  Trends and correlates of class 3 obesity in the United States from 1990 through 2000. , 2002, JAMA.

[35]  K. Flegal,et al.  Prevalence and trends in obesity among US adults, 1999-2000. , 2002, JAMA.

[36]  M. Grossman,et al.  An Economic Analysis of Adult Obesity: Results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System , 2002, Journal of health economics.

[37]  W. Evans,et al.  NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES THE IMPACT OF INCOME ON MORTALITY: EVIDENCE FROM THE SOCIAL SECURITY NOTCH , 2002 .

[38]  Jonathan H. Wright,et al.  A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments , 2002 .

[39]  J. Gruber,et al.  Social Security and Elderly Living Arrangements , 2002, The Journal of Human Resources.

[40]  Kristin F. Butcher,et al.  Maternal Employment and Overweight Children , 2002, Journal of health economics.

[41]  M Elia,et al.  Obesity in the elderly. , 2001, Obesity research.

[42]  Truls Østbye,et al.  The Effect of Middle‐ and Old‐Age Body Mass Index on Short‐Term Mortality in Older People , 2001, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[43]  A. Prentice,et al.  Beyond body mass index , 2001, Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity.

[44]  H. Krumholz,et al.  An evidence-based assessment of federal guidelines for overweight and obesity as they apply to elderly persons. , 2001, Archives of internal medicine.

[45]  C. Himes.  Obesity, disease, and functional limitation in later life , 2000, Demography.

[46]  R. Posner,et al.  The Long-Run Growth in Obesity as a Function of Technological Change , 1999, Perspectives in biology and medicine.

[47]  K. Flegal,et al.  Prediction equations do not eliminate systematic error in self-reported body mass index. , 1997, Obesity research.

[48]  G J Petot,et al.  Validity of portion-size measurement aids: a review. , 1997, Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

[49]  C. Himes,et al.  Biological and social determinants of body size across the life span , 1995 .

[50]  Lung-fei Lee,et al.  Estimation of Linear and Nonlinear Errors-in-Variables Models Using Validation Data , 1995 .

[51]  A. Krueger,et al.  The Effect of Social Security on Labor Supply: A Cohort Analysis of the Notch Generation , 1991, Journal of Labor Economics.

[52]  Catherine A. Durham,et al.  A Test of the Habit Formation Hypothesis Using Household Data , 1991 .

[53]  J A Colliver,et al.  Reassessment of body mass indices. , 1990, The American journal of clinical nutrition.

[54]  P M Keyl,et al.  Body Mass Definitions of Obesity: Sensitivity and Specificity Using Self‐Reported Weight and Height , 1990, Epidemiology.

[55]  Rowland Ml.  Reporting bias in height and weight data. , 1989 .

[56]  James J. Heckman,et al.  Choosing Among Alternative Nonexperimental Methods for Estimating the Impact of Social Programs: the Case of Manpower Training , 1989 .

[57]  H. Iams,et al.  Women, marriage, and Social Security benefits. , 1988, Social security bulletin.

[58]  V M Hawthorne,et al.  Three limitations of the body mass index. , 1986, The American journal of clinical nutrition.

[59]  V. Reno,et al.  Benefits for individual retired workers and couples now approaching retirement age. , 1982, Social security bulletin.

[60]  Gary V. Engelhardt.  Social security and elderly homeownership , 2008 .

[61]  J. Lusk,et al.  Determining the impact of food price and income changes on body weight. , 2008, Journal of health economics.

[62]  J. Greve,et al.  Obesity and Labor Market Outcomes: New Danish Evidence , 2007 .

[63]  P. Lundborg,et al.  Obesity and occupational attainment among the 50+ of Europe. , 2007, Advances in health economics and health services research.

[64]  H. Lazenby,et al.  Age Estimates in the National Health Accounts , 2004, Health care financing review.

[65]  A. Drewnowski,et al.  Poverty and obesity: the role of energy density and energy costs. , 2004, The American journal of clinical nutrition.

[66]  S. Klein.  Fat Land : How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World , 2003 .

[67]  John Bound,et al.  Measurement error in survey data , 2001 .

[68]  T. Philipson,et al.  The world-wide growth in obesity: an economic research agenda. , 2001, Health economics.

[69]  M. Thun,et al.  The effect of age on the association between body-mass index and mortality. , 1998, The New England journal of medicine.

[70]  Claude Bouchard,et al.  Clinical guidelines on the identification, evaluation, and treatment of overweight and obesity in adults: Executive summary , 1998 .

[71]  Claude Bouchard,et al.  Handbook of obesity , 1997 .

[72]  Michael J. Moore,et al.  Habit Formation and Intertemporal Substitution in Individual Food Consumption , 1996 .

[73]  A. Stunkard,et al.  Socioeconomic status and obesity: a review of the literature. , 1989, Psychological bulletin.

[74]  Donald R. Plane,et al.  Business and economic statistics , 1986 .

[75]  V. Dr,et al.  Investigating discrepancies between Social Security Administration and Current Population Survey benefit data for 1972. , 1980 .