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The effect of fat mass on educational attainment: Examining the sensitivity to different identification strategies

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  • von Hinke Kessler Scholder, Stephanie
  • Davey Smith, George
  • Lawlor, Debbie A.
  • Propper, Carol
  • Windmeijer, Frank
Abstract
The literature that examines the relationship between child or adolescent Body Mass Index (BMI) and academic attainment generally finds mixed results. This may be due to the use of different data sets, conditioning variables, or methodologies: studies either use an individual fixed effects (FE) approach and/or an instrumental variable (IV) specification. Using one common dataset, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, and a common set of controls, this paper compares the different approaches (including using different types of IV's), discusses their appropriateness, and contrasts their findings. We show that, although the results differ depending on the approach, most estimates cannot be statistically distinguished from OLS, nor from each other. Examining the potential violations of key assumptions of the different approaches and comparing their point estimates, we conclude that fat mass is unlikely to be causally related to academic achievement in adolescence.

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  • von Hinke Kessler Scholder, Stephanie & Davey Smith, George & Lawlor, Debbie A. & Propper, Carol & Windmeijer, Frank, 2012. "The effect of fat mass on educational attainment: Examining the sensitivity to different identification strategies," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 405-418.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:10:y:2012:i:4:p:405-418
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2012.04.015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nicola Barban & Elisabetta De Cao & Sonia Oreffice & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2016. "Assortative Mating on Education: A Genetic Assessment," Working Papers 2016-034, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    2. González González, Diego, 2024. "The impact of obesity on human capital accumulation: exploring the driving factors," UC3M Working papers. Economics 43822, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    3. Donal O’Neill & Olive Sweetman, 2013. "The consequences of measurement error when estimating the impact of obesity on income," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Dolton, Peter & Xiao, Mimi, 2017. "The intergenerational transmission of body mass index across countries," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 140-152.
    5. Sarrias, Mauricio & Blanco, Alejandra, 2022. "Bodyweight and human capital development: Assessing the impact of obesity on socioemotional skills during childhood in Chile," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    6. Jonas Minet Kinge, 2017. "Waist circumference, body mass index, and employment outcomes," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 18(6), pages 787-799, July.
    7. Nicole Black & David W. Johnston & Anna Peeters, 2015. "Childhood Obesity and Cognitive Achievement," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(9), pages 1082-1100, September.
    8. Olivier Bargain & Jinan Zeidan, 2019. "Heterogeneous effects of obesity on mental health: Evidence from Mexico," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 447-460, April.
    9. Petri Böckerman & John Cawley & Jutta Viinikainen & Terho Lehtimäki & Suvi Rovio & Ilkka Seppälä & Jaakko Pehkonen & Olli Raitakari, 2019. "The effect of weight on labor market outcomes: An application of genetic instrumental variables," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 65-77, January.
    10. Victor Iturra & Mauricio Sarrias, 2023. "The Impact of Bodyweight on Life Satisfaction among School-Aged Children: Are the Mechanisms Gender-Based?," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(1), pages 135-165, February.
    11. O'Neill, Donal & Sweetman, Olive, 2012. "The Consequences of Measurement Error when Estimating the Impact of BMI on Labour Market Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 7008, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Barban, Nicola & De Cao, Elisabetta & Oreffice, Sonia & Quintana-Domeque, Climent, 2021. "The effect of education on spousal education: A genetic approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    13. Fang, Muriel Zheng, 2014. "Violating the Monotonicity condition for instrumental variable—Dimorphic patterns of gene–behavior association," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 59-63.
    14. von Hinke, Stephanie & Davey Smith, George & Lawlor, Debbie A. & Propper, Carol & Windmeijer, Frank, 2016. "Genetic markers as instrumental variables," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 131-148.
    15. Raquel Carrasco & Diego González-González, 2024. "The impact of obesity on human capital accumulation: Exploring the driving factors," Working Papers 2024-03, FEDEA.
    16. Cawley, John, 2015. "An economy of scales: A selective review of obesity's economic causes, consequences, and solutions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 244-268.
    17. Kooreman, Peter & Scherpenzeel, Annette, 2014. "High frequency body mass measurement, feedback, and health behaviors," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 141-153.
    18. Dolton, Peter & Xiao, Mimi, 2015. "The intergenerational transmission of BMI in China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 90-113.

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