Weight Loss and Sexual Activity in Adult Obese Individuals: Establishing a Causal Link

36 Pages Posted: 6 Aug 2015

See all articles by Arndt R. Reichert

Arndt R. Reichert

World Bank; Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen)

Harald Tauchmann

Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen)

Ansgar Wübker

RWI

Date Written: June 5, 2015

Abstract

Obesity may not only be linked to undesirable health outcomes but also to limitations in sexual life. The present paper aims to assess whether there is a causal relationship between weight loss and sexual activity in adult obese individuals. To address the endogeneity of weight loss that is likely to result in biased estimation results, the analysis is based on data from a randomized field experiment. In this experiment financial weight-loss rewards were offered to a random subgroup of participants and can be used as exogenous source of weight variation in an instrumental variables approach. Estimation results indicate that for obese males loosing weight increases the probability for being involved in a sexual relationship. Conditional on having already lost some weight, a further reduction in obesity also increases the frequency of sexual intercourse.

Keywords: Obesity; sexual partnership; frequency of intercourse; randomized trial; weight-loss incentives

JEL Classification: I10, I18, J28, J65

Suggested Citation

Reichert, Arndt Rudiger and Tauchmann, Harald and Wübker, Ansgar, Weight Loss and Sexual Activity in Adult Obese Individuals: Establishing a Causal Link (June 5, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2640086 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2640086

Arndt Rudiger Reichert

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen) ( email )

Hohenzollernstr. 1-3
Essen, 45128
Germany

Harald Tauchmann (Contact Author)

Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen) ( email )

Hohenzollernstr. 1-3
45128 Essen
Germany

Ansgar Wübker

RWI ( email )

Hohenzollernstr. 1-3
Essen, 45128
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
41
Abstract Views
785
PlumX Metrics