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Identifying Endogenous Peer Effects in the Spread of Obesity

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Author Info
Timothy J. Halliday () (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa)
Sally Kwak () (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa)

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Abstract

Recent research in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) purports to show the existence of peer effects in the spread of obesity. Using a dataset of 5124 residents from Framingham, Massachusetts spanning the years 1971 to 2003, the authors show correlations between own weight gain and friends’ and relatives’ weight gain over this period. They find, furthermore, that these results are strongest for males and weaker for females. We use the Adolescent Health Survey, a nationally representative dataset of seventh through twelfth graders in 1994 and 1996 to examine the effect of peers on weight gain. Despite the differences in the samples, we are able to replicate the pattern of results in the NEJM study. However the results are not robust to alternative definitions of the outcome variable. Furthermore, due to the various identification issues that are unresolved in both this and the NEJM paper, we conclude that the evidence for contagion effects in the spread of obesity is only suggestive at best.

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File URL: http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/workingpapers/WP_07-27.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function: First version, 2007
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 200727.

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Length: 27 pages
Date of creation: 22 Oct 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hai:wpaper:200727

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Related research
Keywords: Peer effects; obesity; adolescent health;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production
J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Deaton, Angus, 1995. "Data and econometric tools for development analysis," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery† & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 33, pages 1785-1882 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Bo E. Honoré & Ekaterini Kyriazidou, 2000. "Panel Data Discrete Choice Models with Lagged Dependent Variables," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(4), pages 839-874, July.
  3. Alejandro Gaviria & Steven Raphael, 2001. "School-Based Peer Effects And Juvenile Behavior," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(2), pages 257-268, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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