Schools and Obesity: A Natural Experiment Using the New York City High School Admissions Process

• In Event: 35.081 - Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: 35.081-22 - Schools, Nutrition, and Health Outcomes

Abstract

I use New York City’s high school admissions process as a natural experiment to assess the impact of going to a particular school on student weight, BMI, and probability of being overweight or obese. For each high school that admitted students by an oversubscribed lottery, I compare the weight (or BMI, overweight, or obesity) of students admitted to a particular school with the weight of students who applied, but were not admitted based purely on a random number. Analyzing over 100 lotteries, I find statistically significant school effects on student weight about as often as one would expect by chance. I conclude that within NYC the specific high school a student attends has little effect on his or her weight.

Author

• Jesse Margolis, City University of New York