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Title: Cost of Watching Television: A Longitudinal Assessment of the Effect of Heavy Viewing on Earnings
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Gortmaker, Steven L.
Bielby, William T.
Cost of Watching Television: A Longitudinal Assessment of the Effect of Heavy Viewing on Earnings
Working Paper, School of Public Health Harvard University, Boston MA, 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: School of Public Health, Harvard University
Keyword(s): Behavior; Earnings; Gender Differences; Health Factors; Household Income; Human Capital; Leisure; Minorities; Obesity; Self-Esteem; Television Viewing

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Data from the 1981 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to examine the impact of time spent watching television on subsequent earnings. The focus is on a sample of some 8,000 respondents during 1986-1988. It is hypothesized that heavy viewing might make an impact on subsequent earnings either by choosing to allocate time to leisure over investment in human capital, or by being a consequence of behavioral or subjective characteristics that are valued negatively in the labor market which makes any association between viewership and subsequent earnings spurious. Estimated coefficients indicated that each additional hour of television viewed per week was associated with a decrease in personal income of $40.72 for males and $73.89 for females, independent of household income, schooling, marital status, maternal/paternal education, height, self-esteem, age, and minority status. Other control variables related to productivity and/or earnings capacity include cognitive ability, self-esteem, chronic health conditions, and extreme obesity. Results provide evidence for the substantial impact of television viewing on subsequent earnings and point to the need for further research.
Bibliography Citation
Gortmaker, Steven L. and William T. Bielby. "Cost of Watching Television: A Longitudinal Assessment of the Effect of Heavy Viewing on Earnings." Working Paper, School of Public Health Harvard University, Boston MA, 1995.