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

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dc.contributor.author Wittenberg, Martin en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2012-12-03T12:07:34Z
dc.date.available 2012-12-03T12:07:34Z
dc.date.issued 2011-09 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/11090/78
dc.description.abstract We show that body mass increases with economics resources among most South Africans, although not all. Among Black South Africans the relationship is non-decreasing over virtually the entire range of incomes/wealth. Furthermore in this groupd other measures of success (e.g. employment and education) are also associated with increases in body mass. This is true both in 1998 (the Demographic and Health Survey) and 2008 (National Income Dynamics Survey). This suggests the body mass can be used as a crude measure of wellbeing. Used in this way it suggests that unemployment is involuntary. This is true even if we control for household fixed effects. This is joint SALDRU/DataFirst Working Paper as part of the Mellon Data Quality Project. en_US
dc.publisher Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit en_US
dc.subject Unemployment en_US
dc.subject Employment en_US
dc.subject Body mass index
dc.subject Wellbeing
dc.subject Income
dc.title The weight of success: The body mass index and economic well-being in South Africa en_US


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