Arbeitspapier

No country for fat men? Obesity, earnings, skills, and health among 450,000 Swedish men

The negative association between obesity and labor market outcomes has been widely documented, yet little is known about the mechanisms through which the association arises. Using rich and unique data on 450,000 Swedish men enlisting for the military, we find that the crude obesity penalty in earnings, which amounts to about 18 percent, is linked to supply-side characteristics that are associated with both earnings and obesity. In particular, we show that the penalty reflects negative associations between obesity, on the one hand, and cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and physical fitness, on the other. Our results suggest that employers use obesity as a marker for skill limitations in order to statistically discriminate.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 4775

Classification
Wirtschaft
Health: General
Demographic Economics: General
Labor Discrimination: General
Subject
Obesity
overweight
earnings
cognitive ability
non-cognitive ability
health
physical fitness
Gesundheitsrisiko
Männer
Lohndifferenzierung
Qualifikation
Kognitive Fähigkeiten
Schweden

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Lundborg, Petter
Nystedt, Paul
Rooth, Dan-Olof
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(where)
Bonn
(when)
2010

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Lundborg, Petter
  • Nystedt, Paul
  • Rooth, Dan-Olof
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Time of origin

  • 2010

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