Much has been written about the modern obesity epidemic, and historical BMIs are low compared to their modern counterparts. However, interpreting BMI variation is difficult because BMIs increase when weight increases or when stature decreases, and the two have different implications for human...

This paper calls into question the currently most influential model of international trade. An empirical finding by Trefler (2004, AER) and others that industrial productivity increases more strongly in liberalized industries than in non-liberalized industries has been widely accepted as...

The rapid economic growth experienced within the past two decades in China highly correlates with childhood overweightness. The epidemic has become an issue of grave concern. A principal factor considered to be responsible for the epidemic in the literature is unhealthy food intake, such as...

In this paper we examine the effect of dollar stores on children's Body Mass Index (BMI). We use a dataset compiled by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement that reflects a BMI screening program for public school children in the state of Arkansas. We combine propensity score matching with...

Obesity rates have risen dramatically in the US since the 1980s, but well-identified studies have struggled to explain the magnitude of the observed changes. In this paper, we estimate the causal impact of economic insecurity on obesity rates. Specifically, we construct a synthetic panel of...

Obesity rates have risen dramatically in the US since the 1980s, but well-identified studies have struggled to explain the magnitude of the observed changes. In this paper, we estimate the causal impact of economic insecurity on obesity rates. Specifically, we construct a synthetic panel of...

This paper investigates the causal relationship between younger school entry and childhood obesity. Using the restricted-access National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and first-grade entrance policies, I compare years of education and the probability of being obese among students who are...

Obesity provides a potentially informative signal about individuals' choices and preferences. Using NLSY survey data, we estimate that debt delinquency is 20 percent higher among the obese than the non-obese after controlling for an extensive set of financial and economic credit risk factors....

Over the past two decades, Asia and the Pacific have not only experienced rapid growth, but in parallel saw a rapid increase in overweight people and obesity. The latest available data indicated that over 40.9% of adults in the region are overweight compared to 34.6% in 1993. It is well...

Over the past four decades, paralleling the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity, the share of families with only one child has been rising steadily. Using three waves of the National Survey of Children’s Health, we examine the effect of being the only child in a family on childhood...