IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/jhriss/v44y2009i3p684-709.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do School Lunches Contribute to Childhood Obesity?

Author

Listed:
  • Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach

Abstract

This paper assesses whether school lunches contribute to childhood obesity. I employ two methods to isolate the causal impact of school lunches on obesity. First, using panel data, I find that children who consume school lunches are more likely to be obese than those who brown bag their lunches even though they enter kindergarten with the same obesity rates. Second, I leverage the sharp discontinuity in eligibility for reduced-price lunch to compare children just above and just below the eligibility cutoff. Students are more likely to be obese, and weigh more if they are income-eligible for reduced price school lunches.

Suggested Citation

  • Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2009. "Do School Lunches Contribute to Childhood Obesity?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:44:y:2009:i3:p684-709
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jhr.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/44/3/684
    Download Restriction: A subscripton is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jayanta Bhattacharya & Janet Currie & Steven J. Haider, 2006. "Breakfast of Champions?: The School Breakfast Program and the Nutrition of Children and Families," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(3).
    2. Patricia M. Anderson & Kristin F. Butcher, 2006. "Reading, Writing, and Refreshments: Are School Finances Contributing to Children’s Obesity?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(3).
    3. Jayanta Bhattacharya & Janet Currie & Steven J. Haider, 2006. "Breakfast of Champions?: The School Breakfast Program and the Nutrition of Children and Families," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press.
    4. John DiNardo & David S. Lee, 2004. "Economic Impacts of Unionization on Private Sector Employers: 1984-2001," NBER Working Papers 10598, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniel L. Millimet & Rusty Tchernis & Muna Husain, 2010. "School Nutrition Programs and the Incidence of Childhood Obesity," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(3).
    2. David Frisvold & Joseph Price, 2019. "The Contribution of the School Environment to the Overall Food Environment Experienced by Children," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 106-123, July.
    3. Singh, Prakarsh & Masters, William A., 2016. "Behavior Change for Early Childhood Nutrition: Effectiveness of Health Worker Training Depends on Maternal Information in a Randomized Control Trial," IZA Discussion Papers 10375, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Agustina Laurito & Amy Ellen Schwartz, 2019. "Does School Lunch Fill the “SNAP Gap” at the End of the Month?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 49-82, July.
    5. Lichtman-Sadot, Shirlee, 2016. "Does banning carbonated beverages in schools decrease student consumption?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 30-50.
    6. Scott A. Imberman & Adriana D. Kugler, 2012. "The Effect of Providing Breakfast on Student Performance: Evidence from an In-Class Breakfast Program," NBER Working Papers 17720, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. James, Jonathan & Belot, Michèle, 2009. "Healthy school meals and educational outcomes," ISER Working Paper Series 2009-01, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    8. Jennifer M. Mellor, 2011. "Do cigarette taxes affect children's body mass index? The effect of household environment on health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 417-431, April.
    9. Tobias Brändle & Laszlo Goerke, 2018. "The one constant: a causal effect of collective bargaining on employment growth? Evidence from German linked‐employer‐employee data," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(5), pages 445-478, November.
    10. Kalle Hirvonen & John Hoddinott, 2017. "Agricultural production and children's diets: evidence from rural Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(4), pages 469-480, July.
    11. repec:lan:wpaper:2152 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2017. "Unionization Regimes, Capacity Choice by Firms and Welfare Outcomes," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 85(6), pages 661-681, December.
    13. Ishdorj, Ariun & Crepinsek, Mary Kay & Jensen, Helen H., 2012. "Children’s Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables: Do School Environment and Policies Affect Choice in School Meals?," 2012 AAEA/EAAE Food Environment Symposium 123534, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Ariun Ishdorj & Mary Kay Crepinsek & Helen H. Jensen, 2013. "Children's Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables: Do School Environment and Policies Affect Choices at School and Away from School?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 35(2), pages 341-359.
    15. Dinlersoz, Emin & Greenwood, Jeremy & Hyatt, Henry R., 2014. "Who Do Unions Target? Unionization over the Life-Cycle of U.S. Businesses," IZA Discussion Papers 8416, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Alessia Matano & Paolo Naticchioni, 2017. "The Extent of Rent Sharing along the Wage Distribution," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 751-777, December.
    17. Omesh Kini & Mo Shen & Jaideep Shenoy & Venkat Subramaniam, 2022. "Labor Unions and Product Quality Failures," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(7), pages 5403-5440, July.
    18. Frandsen, Brigham R. & Frölich, Markus & Melly, Blaise, 2012. "Quantile treatment effects in the regression discontinuity design," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 168(2), pages 382-395.
    19. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2009. "Regression Discontinuity Designs In Economics," Working Papers 1118, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    20. Ehmke, Mariah D. & Warziniack, Travis & Schroeter, Christiane & Morgan, Kari, 2008. "Applying Experimental Economics to Obesity in the Family Household," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(2), pages 539-549, August.
    21. Alois Stutzer & Armando N. Meier, 2016. "Limited Self‐control, Obesity, and the Loss of Happiness," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(11), pages 1409-1424, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:44:y:2009:i3:p684-709. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://jhr.uwpress.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.