The weight of success: The body mass index and economic well-being in South Africa

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dc.creatorWittenberg, Martin
dc.date2014-06-10T10:19:43Z
dc.date2014-06-10T10:19:43Z
dc.date2013
dc.date.accessioned2015-05-28T10:06:40Z
dc.date.available2015-05-28T10:06:40Z
dc.date.issued2015-05-28
dc.descriptionWe show that body mass increases with economic resources among most Southern Africans, although not all. Among Black South Africans the relationship is non-decreasing over virtually the entire range of incomes/wealth. Furthermore in this group other measures of “success” (e.g., employment and education) are also associated with increases in body mass. This is true in both 1998 (the Demographic and Health Survey) and 2008 (National Income Dynamics Survey). A similar relationship holds among residents of Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Malawi, and Namibia. This suggests that body mass can be used as a crude measure of well-being. This allows us to examine the vexed question in South African labor economics whether there is involuntary unemployment. The fact that the unemployed are lighter than the employed, even when we control for household fixed effects, suggests that they are not choosing this state.
dc.identifierWittenberg, M. (2013). The weight of success: The body mass index and economic well-being in South Africa, Review of Income and Wealth, 59: S62–S83  
dc.identifierhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/roiw.12029/abstract;jsessionid=672136F1A35CE7CC6160E427AA1F8B8B.f04t01
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/721
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article DA - 2015-05-28 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Body Mass Index BMI KW - Asset index KW - Obesity KW - South Africa LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - The weight of success: The body mass index and economic well-being in South Africa TI - The weight of success: The body mass index and economic well-being in South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11090/721 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/721
dc.languageen
dc.publisherReview of Income and Wealth
dc.publisher.departmentSALDRUen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectBody Mass Index BMI
dc.subjectAsset index
dc.subjectObesity
dc.subjectSouth Africa
dc.titleThe weight of success: The body mass index and economic well-being in South Africa
dc.typeJournal Article
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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