Height & income: Labor returns of health in Mexico from 2000 to 2018

Investment in health has been proposed as a mechanism to promote upward social mobility. Previous analyses have reported inconsistent estimates of the returns to investment in health in Mexico based on different models for different years. We aim to estimate returns for Mexico using data from four t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2024-05, Vol.19 (5), p.e0303108-e0303108
Main Authors: Gutiérrez, Juan Pablo, Bertozzi, Stefano M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age
Analysis
Biology and Life Sciences
Body Height
Body mass index
Children
Family income
Female
Health surveys
Households
Humans
Income
Income - statistics & numerical data
Income distribution
Investments
Labor
Labor market
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
Men
Mexico
Middle Aged
Mobility
Nutrition
Nutrition Surveys
Participation
People and places
Personal income
Questionnaires
Research and Analysis Methods
Self employment
Social Mobility
Social Sciences
Socioeconomic factors
Surveys
Variables
Women
Womens health
Young Adult
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Summary:Investment in health has been proposed as a mechanism to promote upward social mobility. Previous analyses have reported inconsistent estimates of the returns to investment in health in Mexico based on different models for different years. We aim to estimate returns for Mexico using data from four time points Adult height and labor income are drawn from the periodical national health and nutrition surveys-a group of relatively standardized surveys-that are representative of individuals living in the country in 2000, 2006, 2012 & 2018. These surveys collect anthropometric measurements and information on individuals' labor income. We estimated Mincerian models separately for men and women using OLS, Heckman, instrumental variables, and Heckman with instrumental variables models. Our results indicate significant and positive returns to health for the four surveys, similar in magnitude across years for women and with variations for men. By 2018, returns to health were about 7.4% per additional centimeter in height for females and 9.3% for males. Investments in health and nutrition during childhood and adolescence that increase health capital-measured as adult height-may promote social mobility in Mexico and similar countries to the extent that these investments differentially increase health capital among the poor.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0303108