ERIC Number: ED604428
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Jul
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: As Provided
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The Effects of Schooling on Costless Health Maintenance: Overweight Adolescents and Children in Rural China. NBER Working Paper No. 26089
Rosenzweig, Mark R.; Zhang, Junsen
National Bureau of Economic Research
Obesity is an important global health problem. Although obesity is not directly related to access to health care or constrained by resource deprivation, overweight status is predominantly found in poor, less-educated populations. This paper seeks to identify the causal role of schooling in affecting obesity among children and adolescents, using new estimation methods that exploit unique panel data on young twins in China. The estimates indicate that higher levels of schooling negatively affect being overweight and positively affect healthy behavior, with a large component of the causal effects due to increased information on the benefits of maintaining a healthy weight. There is also evidence that the higher-income associated with increased schooling increases incentives to invest in health.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Rural Areas, Adolescents, Children, Obesity, Child Health, Role of Education, Twins, Educational Attainment, Health Behavior, Body Weight, Family Income
National Bureau of Economic Research. 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-5398. Tel: 617-588-0343; Web site: http://www.nber.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research
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Language: English
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Authoring Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research
Identifiers - Location: China
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A