The effect of obesity on salaries and gender differences. An experimental approach

Abstract

Productivity is considered an important factor affecting the wage-setting process. Nevertheless, other factors such as gender and physical form play an essential role. In this dissertation, we adopt an experimental approach to research into the acceptance of a negative return of obesity on wages. Discrimination related to gender and obesity strongly affects salaries and many times acquire a similar impact to other factors as education or training. This research examines how people accept physical-form based differences in wages. The investigation is based on the online delivery of a survey in an experimental setting in which the participants, who act as wage setters, face different situations about salary evaluation. The treatment is the sex on the subject they have to select for a high or low position. Our study shows how there is great acceptance of discrimination regarding the physical form of the worker. Likewise, our estimates show that even without perceiving general differences in the cost of obesity by gender, there exist significant differences in the effect of these factors by job positions. The penalty would be greater for women in high positions such as IBEX35 than for men in these positions. This research contributes to the study of wage discrimination based on the physical form, and their acceptance in the society