Is obesity contagious? Social networks vs. environmental factors in the obesity epidemic

被引:298
作者
Cohen-Cole, Ethan [2 ]
Fletcher, Jason M. [1 ]
机构
[1] Yale Univ, Sch Publ Hlth, Div Hlth Policy & Adm, New Haven, CT 06510 USA
[2] Fed Reserve Bank Boston, Boston, MA 02210 USA
关键词
obesity; peer effects; social networks;
D O I
10.1016/j.jhealeco.2008.04.005
中图分类号
F [经济];
学科分类号
02 ;
摘要
This note's aim is to investigate the sensitivity of Christakis and Fowler's claim [Christakis, N., Fowler, J., 2007. The spread of obesity in a large social network over 32 years. The New England Journal of Medicine 357, 370-379] that obesity has spread through Social networks. It is well known in the economics literature that failure to include contextual effects can lead 10 spurious inference on "social network effects." We replicate the NEJM results using their specification and a complementary dataset. We find that point estimates of the "social network effect" are reduced and become statistically indistinguishable from zero once standard econometric techniques are implemented. We further note the presence of estimation bias resulting from use of an incorrectly specified dynamic model. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:1382 / 1387
页数:6
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