The Wage Effects of Social Norms: Evidence of Deviations from Peers' Body-Mass in Europe

Fahr, Rene

doi:10.2139/ssrn.936914

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The Wage Effects of Social Norms: Evidence of Deviations from Peers' Body-Mass in Europe

IZA Discussion Paper No. 2323

27 Pages Posted: 12 Oct 2006

See all articles by Rene Fahr

Rene Fahr

University of Paderborn; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: September 2006

Abstract

We investigate wage effects of deviations from peer group body mass index (BMI) to evaluate the influence of social norms on wages. Our approach allows for disentangling the influence of the social norm from any (anticipated) productivity effects associated with deviations from a clinically recommended BMI. Estimates of between effects models for 9 European countries for the years 1998-2001 suggest that the influence of the social norm varies considerably between countries and wage penalties are rather found for upward deviations from the norm and for men.

Keywords: social norms, discrimination, body-mass-index, cross-country evidence, wage effects

JEL Classification: I10, J30, J70, M51

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Fahr, Rene, The Wage Effects of Social Norms: Evidence of Deviations from Peers' Body-Mass in Europe (September 2006). IZA Discussion Paper No. 2323, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=936914 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.936914