Financial health and obesity.

We use individual-level panel data from the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing over the period 2004-2013 to investigate the links between financial health and obesity. We find that having no debt (high savings) is associated with a 3.6 (1.6) percentage point lower probability of having a Body Mass Index in excess of 30. Our results are robust to using different estimation methods, to measuring financial health with a subjective indicator, and adiposity with waist circumference. A lower rate of time preference and lower stress levels may be mechanisms which help to explain the association between good financial health and obesity.