ANDERSON, PATRICIA M.
Effect of Employer-Provided Health Insurance on Job Mobility: Job-Lock or Job-Push?
Working Paper, Department of Economics, Dartmouth College and NBER, October 1998
Cohort(s): NLSY79
ID Number: 3213
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research -- NBER

According to Census Bureau figures, 61.4 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance coverage in 1997. This unique link between one's job and one's medical coverage has continually raised concerns over both the numbers of uninsured and the possible impact of this linkage on labor market outcomes. For example, much attention has been paid in recent years to the problem of job-lock, in which workers feel trapped in their current jobs because of fear of losing their current health insurance, given that workers who become unemployed or change jobs often spend a period without health insurance. Among those having one or more job interruption between 1993 and 1996, 44 percent went 1 month or more uncovered, compared to just 85 percent for those working full time for the entire 36 month period. At the same time, another potential impact of health insurance on mobility has received much less attention than job-lock, but is the mirror image of that problem. Rather than being locked into a job that, absent the link between employer and health insurance, a worker would leave, a worker in need of coverage may be pushed out of a job in which they would otherwise remain. I term this phenomenon "job-push" to parallel the job-lock terminology. Properly attributing the difference in job mobility induced by employer-provided health insurance to job lock or job-push has important policy implications, because policy reforms directed at job-lock may have no effect on job-push, and may possibly even worsen the problems.

ANDERSON, PATRICIA M.
BUTCHER, KRISTIN F.
Reading, Writing, and Raisinets: Are School Finances Contributing to Children's Obesity?
Working Paper 2004-16, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, October 2004. Also: http://chicagofed.org/publications/workingpapers/wp2004_16.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY97
ID Number: 5037
Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The proportion of adolescents in the United States who are obese has nearly tripled over the last two decades. At the same time, schools, often citing financial pressures, have given studentsgreater access to “junk” foods and soda pop, using proceeds from these sales to fund schoolprograms. We examine whether schools under financial pressure are more likely to adoptpotentially unhealthful food policies. Next, we examine whether students’ Body Mass Index(BMI) is higher in counties where a greater proportion of schools are predicted to allow these food policies. Because the financial pressure variables that predict school food policies are unlikely to affect BMI directly, this two step estimation strategy addresses the potential endogeneity of school food policies. We find that a 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of schools in a county that allow students access to junk food leads to about a one percent increase in students’ BMI, on average. However, this average effect is entirely driven by adolescents who have an overweight parent, for whom the effect of such food policies is much larger (2.2%). This suggests that those adolescents who have a genetic or family susceptibility to obesity are most affected by the school food environment. A rough calculation suggests that the increase in availability of junk foods in schools can account for about one-fifth of the increase in average BMI among adolescents over the last decade.

ANDERSON, PATRICIA M.
BUTCHER, KRISTIN F.
Reading, Writing, and Raisinets: Are School Finances Contributing to Children’s Obesity?
Presented: Philadelphia, PA, American Economic Association Annual Meeting, January 2005. Also: http://www.aeaweb.org/annual_mtg_papers/2005/0107_0800_0102.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY97
ID Number: 5038
Publisher: American Economic Association

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The proportion of adolescents in the United States who are obese has nearly tripled over the last two decades. At the same time, schools, often citing financial pressures, have given students greater access to “junk” foods and soda pop, using proceeds from these sales to fund school programs. We examine whether schools under financial pressure are more likely to adopt potentially unhealthful food policies. Next, we examine whether students’ Body Mass Index (BMI) is higher in counties where a greater proportion of schools are predicted to allow these food policies. Because the financial pressure variables that predict school food policies are unlikely to affect BMI directly, this two step estimation strategy addresses the potential endogeneity of school food policies. We find that a 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of schools in a county that allow students access to junk food leads to about a one percent increase in students’ BMI, on average. However, this average effect is entirely driven by adolescents who have an overweight parent, for whom the effect of such food policies is much larger (2.2%). This suggests that those adolescents who have a genetic or family susceptibility to obesity are most affected by the school food environment. A rough calculation suggests that the increase in availability of junk foods in schools can account for about one-fifth of the increase in average BMI among adolescents over the last decade.

ANDERSON, PATRICIA M.
BUTCHER, KRISTIN F.
Reading, Writing, and Raisinets: Are School Finances Contributing to Children’s Obesity?
Working Paper No. 11177. National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2005. Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/W11177
Cohort(s): NLSY97
ID Number: 5039
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research -- NBER

The proportion of adolescents in the United States who are obese has nearly tripled over the last two decades. At the same time, schools, often citing financial pressures, have given students greater access to "junk" foods, using proceeds from the sales to fund school programs. We examine whether schools under financial pressure are more likely to adopt potentially unhealthful food policies. We find that a 10 percentage point increase in the probability of access to junk food leads to about a one percent increase in students' body mass index (BMI). However, this average effect is entirely driven by adolescents who have an overweight parent, for whom the effect of such food policies is much larger (2.2%). This suggests that those adolescents who have a genetic or family susceptibility to obesity are most affected by the school food environment. A rough calculation suggests that the increase in availability of junk foods in schools can account for about one-fifth of the increase in average BMI among adolescents over the last decade.

ANDERSON, PATRICIA M.
BUTCHER, KRISTIN F.
LEVINE, PHILLIP B.
Economic Perspectives on Childhood Obesity
Economic Perspectives 27,3 (3rd Quarter 2003):30-49. Also: http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=10809739&db=buh
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
ID Number: 4358
Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Discusses the reason of the interest on obesity in an economic perspective in the U.S. Changes in rates of obesity in the U.S.; Examination in the children's lives; Relationship of maternal employment on the obesity of children. "...We use NLSY data to examine whether mothers who work more hours...are more likely to have obese children." First, we discuss why trends in obesity, and childhood obesity in particular, are of interest from an economic perspective....Next, we document changes in obesity over time in the United States for adults and children....Third, we discuss changes in children's lives over the last three decades that may be causally related to weight gain. In particular, we examine the increase in mothers working outside the home. It may be that mothers who work outside the home may not have time to prepare nutritious low-calorie meals and supervise their children's outdoor, calorie-expending play. We use National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data to examine whether mothers who work more hours per week, on average, or more weeks over their children's lives are more likely to have obese children. The data contain information on many socioeconomic characteristics of families and multiple observations over time on all of a mother's children. This allows us to control for many observable and unobservable differences between mothers who work and mothers who do not that might be correlated with children's weight. For example, we can examine whether siblings' obesity status differs depending on whether their mother worked more during one sibling's life than the other's. This holds constant all of the (fixed) family characteristics that might be correlated both with children's weight and mothers' labor supply.

ANDERSON, PATRICIA M.
BUTCHER, KRISTIN F.
LEVINE, PHILLIP B.
Maternal Employment and Overweight Children
Working Paper 281. Evanston, IL: Joint Center for Poverty Research, 2001. Also: http://www.jcpr.org/wp/WPprofile.cfm?ID=323
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
ID Number: 3834
Publisher: Joint Center for Poverty Research

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper investigates whether children are more or less likely to be overweight if their mothers work. The prevalence of both overweight children and working mothers has risen dramatically over the past few decades, although these parallel trends may be coincidental. The goal of this paper is to help determine whether a causal relationship exists between maternal employment and childhood overweight. To accomplish this, we mainly utilize matched mother-child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and employ three main econometric techniques, probit models, sibling difference models, and instrumental variables models in this analysis. Our results indicate that a child is more likely to be overweight if his/her mother worked more intensively (in the form of greater hours per week) over the child's life. This effect is particularly evident for children of white mothers, of mothers with more education, and of mothers with a high income level. Applying our estimates to the trend towards greater maternal employment indicates that the increased hours worked per week among mothers between 1975 and 1999 led to about a 0.4 to 0.7 percentage point increase in overweight children, which represents a relatively small share of the overall increase.

ANDERSON, PATRICIA M.
BUTCHER, KRISTIN F.
LEVINE, PHILLIP B.
Maternal Employment and Overweight Children
Working Paper No. 8770, National Bureau of Economic Research, August 2002. Also: http://papers.nber.org/papers/W8770.pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
ID Number: 3862
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research -- NBER

This paper investigates whether children are more or less likely to be overweight if their mothers work. The prevalence of both overweight children and working mothers has risen dramatically over the past few decades, although these parallel trends may be coincidental. The goal of this paper is to help determine whether a causal relationship exists between maternal employment and childhood overweight. To accomplish this, we mainly utilize matched mother-child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and employ three main econometric techniques, probit models, sibling difference models, and instrumental variables models in this analysis. Our results indicate that a child is more likely to be overweight if his/her mother worked more intensively (in the form of greater hours per week) over the child's life. This effect is particularly evident for children of white mothers, of mothers with more education, and of mothers with a high income level. Applying our estimates to the trend towards greater maternal employment indicates that the increased hours worked per week among mothers between 1975 and 1999 led to about a 0.4 to 0.7 percentage point increase in overweight children, which represents a relatively small share of the overall increase.

ANDERSON, PATRICIA M.
BUTCHER, KRISTIN F.
LEVINE, PHILLIP B.
Maternal Employment and Overweight Children
Journal of Health Economics 22,3 (May 2003): 477-505
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
ID Number: 4207
Publisher: Elsevier

This paper seeks to determine whether a causal relationship exists between maternal employment and childhood weight problems. We use matched mother-child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and employ econometric techniques to control for observable and unobservable differences across individuals and families that may influence both children's weight and their mothers' work patterns. Our results indicate that a child is more likely to be overweight if his/her mother worked more hours per week over the child's life. Analyses by subgroups show that it is higher socioeconomic status mothers whose work intensity is particularly deleterious for their children's overweight status. [Copyright 2003 Elsevier]

GUSTMAN, ALAN L.
ANDERSON, PATRICIA M.
ENGELHARDT, GARY V.
SAMWICK, ANDREW A.
Wages, Fringe Benefits and Savings: Interactions and Implications for Determination of Labor Market Outcomes Analysis with the National Longitudinal Survey
Technical Proposal Response to Bureau of Labor Statistics SGA 940-04 from U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1994
Cohort(s): Mature Women, NLSY79, Young Women
ID Number: 867
Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The project consists of five interrelated studies. The first study is an economic analysis with the Survey of Mature Women, but has a significant methodological component pertaining to the use of employer provided pension plan descriptions. The second study uses these data for the first time in a retirement analysis. Third is a study using the data for Mature Women to analyze labor market risk in the form of wage and employment variation, exploring the implications of such variation for asset accumulation and labor market decisions. The fourth study analyzes the role of health insurance in the labor market, and in particular the effects of health insurance on labor market turnover, among NLSY respondents, among those in the survey of Young Women, and among the Mature Women sample. The fifth focuses on asset formation early in the career, especially in the form of housing wealth, and considering the implications of housing wealth for labor market turnover.

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