The economic value of teeth
By: Sherry Glied, Matthew Neidell.
Contributors: Neidell, Matthew, 1972-; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 13879; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 13879.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "Healthy teeth are a vital and visible component of general well-being, but there is little systematic evidence to demonstrate their economic value.  In this paper, we examine one element of that value, the effect of oral health on labor market outcomes, by exploiting variation in access to fluoridated water during childhood.  The politics surrounding the adoption of water fluoridation by local water districts suggests exposure to fluoride during childhood is exogenous to other factors affecting earnings.  We find that women who resided in communities with fluoridated water during childhood earn approximately 4% more than women who did not, but we find no effect of fluoridation for men.  Furthermore, the effect is almost exclusively concentrated amongst women from families of low socioeconomic status.  We find little evidence to support occupational sorting, statistical discrimination, and productivity as potential channels of these effects, suggesting consumer and employer discrimination are the likely driving factors whereby oral health affects earnings"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 6/25/2008.

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available in print.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.