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Are employers discriminating with respect to weight? European Evidence using Quantile Regression

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Author Info
Vincenzo Atella () (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata")
Noemi Pace (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata")
Daniela Vuri () (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata")

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Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between obesity and wages, using data for nine countries from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) over the period 1998-2001. We improve upon the existing literature by adopting a Quantile Regression approach to characterize the heterogenous impact of obesity at different points of the wage distribution. Our results show that i) the evidence obtained from mean regression and pooled analysis hides a significant amount of heterogeneity as the relationship between obesity and wages differs across countries and wages quantiles and ii) cultural, environmental or institutional settings do not seem to be able to explain differences among countries, leaving room for a pure discriminatory effect hypothesis.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Tor Vergata University, CEIS in its series CEIS Research Paper with number 123.

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Length: 54 pages
Date of creation: 14 Jul 2008
Date of revision: 14 Jul 2008
Handle: RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:123

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Postal: CEIS - Centre for Economic and International Studies - Faculty of Economics - University of Rome "Tor Vergata" - Via Columbia, 2 00133 Roma
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Web page: http://www.ceistorvergata.it
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Postal: CEIS - Centre for Economic and International Studies - Faculty of Economics - University of Rome "Tor Vergata" - Via Columbia, 2 00133 Roma
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Web: http://www.ceistorvergata.it

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Related research
Keywords: quantile treatment effect; obesity; wages; endogeneity;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: General - - - Hypothesis Testing
C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data
I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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