Ulf Gerdtham
Professor
Productivity or discrimination? An economic analysis of excess-weight penalty in the Swedish labor market
Författare
Summary, in English
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.
Avdelning/ar
- Nationalekonomiska institutionen
- EpiHealth: Epidemiology for Health
Publiceringsår
2011
Språk
Engelska
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Lund University, Department of Economics Working Papers
Volym
2011
Issue
12
Dokumenttyp
Working paper
Förlag
Department of Economics, Lund University
Ämne
- Economics
Nyckelord
- sickness absence
- income
- Employment
- obesity
- overweight
Status
Published