Faculty Bibliography

Previous research provides evidence of a negative effect of body mass on women's economic outcomes. We extend this research by using a much older sample of individuals from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and by using a body mass measure that is lagged by 15 years instead of the traditional 7 years. One of the main contributions of this paper is a replication of previous research findings given our differing samples and measures. We compare OLS estimates with sibling fixed effects estimates and find that obesity is associated with an 18% reduction in women's wages, a 25% reduction in women's family income, and a 16% reduction in women's probability of marriage. These effects are robust--they persist much longer than previously understood and they persist across the life course, affecting older women as well as younger women

Most research on child behavioral and cognitive outcomes focuses on the impact of variables measured across families-holding a number of other characteristics constant. However, this research is limited in that it does not capture variation in child developmental outcomes that occurs within families. To address these limitations, we examine correlations of child outcomes between siblings from the same family. We conduct this analysis for several demographic subgroups. Furthermore, to better understand how these inequalities are generated within families, we also examine the impact of individual level characteristics within families using fixed effects models. Results from our between-family analyses indicate that siblings with fewer family resources are more similar on behavioral outcomes compared to siblings in more privileged families. However, children in two-parent households perform more similarly on age-adjusted achievement tests than do children in single parent households. Results from our within-family sibling comparisons reveal that first born children generally outperform their younger siblings on age-adjusted achievement tests. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.