Productivity or discrimination? An economic analysis of excess-weight penalty in the Swedish labor market
(2011) In Lund University, Department of Economics Working Papers 2011(12).- Abstract
- Using longitudinal data, this paper investigates the penalty for excess weight in the Swedish labor market, distinguishing between the productivity and the discrimination hypotheses. We analyze employment, income, and sickness absence , using the latter as a direct measure of productivity. We find that excess weight women, but not men, experience a significant employment penalty. Both genders experience a significant income penalty for obesity. We conclude that the penalties are associated with lower productivity, primarily in terms of health. We find no evidence of discrimination.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1983967
- author
- Dackehag, Margareta LU ; Gerdtham, Ulf LU and Nordin, Martin LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2011
- type
- Working paper/Preprint
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- sickness absence, income, Employment, obesity, overweight
- in
- Lund University, Department of Economics Working Papers
- volume
- 2011
- issue
- 12
- pages
- 26 pages
- publisher
- Department of Economics, Lund University
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b8f3c6d8-ad25-42cc-8570-9cca442bdd4b (old id 1983967)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 11:14:51
- date last changed
- 2023-06-03 02:55:02
@misc{b8f3c6d8-ad25-42cc-8570-9cca442bdd4b, abstract = {{Using longitudinal data, this paper investigates the penalty for excess weight in the Swedish labor market, distinguishing between the productivity and the discrimination hypotheses. We analyze employment, income, and sickness absence , using the latter as a direct measure of productivity. We find that excess weight women, but not men, experience a significant employment penalty. Both genders experience a significant income penalty for obesity. We conclude that the penalties are associated with lower productivity, primarily in terms of health. We find no evidence of discrimination.}}, author = {{Dackehag, Margareta and Gerdtham, Ulf and Nordin, Martin}}, keywords = {{sickness absence; income; Employment; obesity; overweight}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Working Paper}}, number = {{12}}, publisher = {{Department of Economics, Lund University}}, series = {{Lund University, Department of Economics Working Papers}}, title = {{Productivity or discrimination? An economic analysis of excess-weight penalty in the Swedish labor market}}, volume = {{2011}}, year = {{2011}}, }