Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/177140 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11336
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Childhood obesity has adverse health and productivity consequences and poses negative externalities to health services. Its increase in recent decades can be traced back to unhealthy habits acquired in the household. We investigate whether parental beliefs play a role by eliciting beliefs about the returns to a recommended-calorie diet and regular exercise using hypothetical investment scenarios. We show that perceived returns are predictive of health investments and outcomes, and that less educated parents perceive the returns to health investments to be lower, thus contributing to the socioeconomic inequality in health outcomes and the intergenerational transmission of obesity.
Subjects: 
parental investments
health
beliefs
inequality
equality of opportunity
obesity
JEL: 
D19
I10
I12
I14
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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