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BEING obese is the same as not having an undergraduate degree. That’s the bizarre message from a new paper that looks at the economic fortunes of Swedish men who enlisted in compulsory military service in the 1980s and 1990s. They show that men who are obese aged 18 grow up to earn 16% less than their peers of a normal weight. Even people who were overweight at 18—that is, with a body-mass index from 25 to 30—see significantly lower wages as an adult.
At first glance, a sceptic might be unconvinced by the results. After all, in many countries the poorest people tend to be the fattest. One study found that， Americans who live in the most poverty-dense counties are those most prone to obesity. If obese people tend to come from impoverished backgrounds, then we might expect them to have lower earnings as an adult.
But the authors get around this problem by mainly focusing on brothers. Every person included in their final sample—which is 150,000 people strong—has at least one male sibling also in that sample. That allows the economists to use “fixed-effects”, a statistical technique that accounts for family characteristics (such as poverty). They also include important family characteristics like the parents' income. All this statistical trickery allows the economists to isolate the effect of obesity on earnings.
So what does explain the “obesity penalty”? They reckon that discrimination in the labour market is not that important. Neither is health. Instead they emphasise what psychologists call “noncognitive factors”—motivation, popularity and the like. Having well-developed noncognitive factors is associated with success in the labour market. The authors argue that obese children pick up fewer noncognitive skills—they are less likely, say, to be members of sports teams or they may face discrimination from teachers.
And how did the authors calculate their wacky factoid? An additional year of schooling in Sweden results in a 6% boost to earnings. The obesity penalty of 16% thus corresponds to almost three years of education—the same as a university bachelor’s degree.
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长得胖就像没有大学学位。这个奇怪的观点来自于一篇新发表的论文，这篇论文观察了19世纪80年代到90年代在瑞典服过强制兵役的人们的经济收入。研究显示在18岁出现肥胖的人长大后的收入会比那些体重正常的同龄孩子低16%。每一个在18岁就超重的人（超重指体重系数是25-30）在成年后收入都明显较低。
多疑的人一开始可能不会相信这种结果。但别忘了，在很多国家，最穷的人总是最胖的。一项研究显示，美国的贫民聚集区的居民都倾向于肥胖。如果胖人倾向于来自于贫穷的背景，那么我们就可以预测他们成年后会得到低收入。
但是作者主要通过关注兄弟来绕开这个问题。每个包含进最终样本的人（多达150，000人）都最少有一个也包含进样本的兄弟。这就使得经济学家可以使用“固定效应”—— 一个能够说明家庭特质（例如贫穷）的统计方法。他们也包括了重要的家庭特质，例如父母的收入。所有这些统计技巧都使得经济学家分离出肥胖对于收入的影响。
那么什么解释了“肥胖的害处”呢？他们认为劳动力市场上的歧视并不是最重要的，健康也不是。他们反而强调了心理学家所谓的“认知因素”——动机，名望这类的东西。拥有发展良好的认知因素与获得成功紧密相连。作者认为肥胖的孩子与体育队的孩子们相比他们掌握的认知技巧更少，或者说他们也许会面对老师的歧视。
另外，作者凭什么说肥胖与没有学位一样呢？这个结论的计算方法是什么？在瑞典，多上一年学就导致收入增加6%。因此，肥胖导致的16%的收入差距几乎与三年的大学教育——也就是说需要获得学士学位的时间——是一致的。
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This is an interesting view of point to me although I don’t totally agree.
There are multiple factors that influence people’s income and development, ascribing poverty to overweight alone is pointless. There are so many people being rich and even great are kind of chubby, for instance one of my idol,George R.R. Martin.
However, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have to attach any importance to our weight which to some degree is really influencing the job hunting. Someone once asked me that if you can’t control your own weight, how can you convince people that you can overcome difficulties in work?
Anyway, both having a normal weight and a degree have significant effect on making ourselves better people.
via.The Economics
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Post comment Comment (6 replies)
- Reply Nikkii
- I think this report mainly talks about those who are looking for a job or just stepped into their career instead of the already successive ones
freefu55: But why I see is all the rich are fat, poor are thin.
- Reply xingyue
- Oh, leave my snacks away. It is relieved and fortunate that I was normal at 18. ^_^ How sharp the question is, concerning the connection between controlling weight and overcoming difficulties.
- Reply zhouying2012
- This is a different idea, but it's very useful for fat peoples. They would be try to leave the fat team by any way, then they'll be more health. On the another side, this no doult is also a goos idea.
- Reply Nikkii
- yes, at least some overweight people would begin to think of this problem
zhouying2012: This is a different idea, but it's very useful for fat peoples. They would be try to leave the fat team by any way, then they'll be more health. On th ...
