We use longitudinal data on 11,000 UK-born children to examine the relationship between parental weight and income and children’s overweight across childhood. We find that children are three times as likely to be overweight or obese at 14 if they have an obese parent. Irrespective of their...

We examine whether low self-esteem increases the risk of obesity in a panel of Australian adults. To address the problem of endogeneity, we look at weight changes following exogenous shocks to self-esteem, such as the unexpected death of friends and family members. We find that negative shocks...