The medical care costs of obesity: an instrumental variables approach
J Cawley, C Meyerhoefer - Journal of health economics, 2012 - Elsevier
This paper is the first to use the method of instrumental variables (IV) to estimate the impact
of obesity on medical costs in order to address the endogeneity of weight and to reduce the
bias from reporting error in weight. Models are estimated using restricted-use data from the
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey for 2000–2005. The IV model, which exploits genetic
variation in weight as a natural experiment, yields estimates of the impact of obesity on
medical costs that are considerably higher than the estimates reported in the previous …
of obesity on medical costs in order to address the endogeneity of weight and to reduce the
bias from reporting error in weight. Models are estimated using restricted-use data from the
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey for 2000–2005. The IV model, which exploits genetic
variation in weight as a natural experiment, yields estimates of the impact of obesity on
medical costs that are considerably higher than the estimates reported in the previous …
