Obesity and health-related decisions : an empirical model of the determinants of weight status

Number: 
846
Published: 
Classification JEL: 
I12, I14, R52
Keywords: 
Human capital agglomeration, Social returns, Private returns, Externalities, Uncertainty, Fiscal policy

Using Add Health, a very comprehensive longitudinal data set of teenagers and young adults in the United States, we estimate a structural dynamic model of the determinants of obesity. In addition to including many of the well-recognized endogenous factors