Marriage Makes One Fat? Study Says: 'Yes, It Does.'

Uri Gneezy and Jason Shafrin's study is entitled: "Why Does Getting Married Make You Fat? Incentives and Appearance Maintenance."

The abstract says:

"Married individuals weight more on average than non-married individuals. We suggest that exiting the dating market decreases one’s incentive to maintain their appearance and thus leads to an increase in body weight. The paper uses a 13 year panel data set and exploits variation in the type of domestic relationship in order to pinpoint how exiting the dating market affects body weight. We find a positive correlation between the strength of the domestic relationships in terms of probability of termination and weight gain."

A couple of paragraphs from the study say:

"In this paper we test the appearance maintenance hypothesis empirically using a 13 year panel data set from the Netherlands. We exploit variation in the type of domestic relationships to see whether individuals in domestic relationships with a higher
probability of termination will gain less weight than those who enter into domestic relationships where the probability the relationship will terminate is lower. We find that individuals who enter into cohabitation relationships gain less weight than those who enter into traditional marriage relationships.

Further, we observe that having a child reduces the probability that a relationship terminates. The marginal impact of having a child decreases the probability a couple separates more for cohabitators and marriages with a prenuptial agreement than for couples in traditional marriages; traditional marriages already had a lower separation probability so the marginal effect of having a child is less than is the case for cohabitators or marriages with prenuptial agreements. As our theory predicts, married individuals with a prenuptial agreement gain more weight after having a child than would be the case when an individual in a traditional marriage has a child. For cohabitators the results are imprecise because fewer cohabitators have children than married couples. Overall, our results show a correlation between the probability a domestic relationship will terminate and subsequent weight gain.:

Read it all via Tyler Cowen blog, MR.

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graph per google images

Realistic Expectations and Resolutions

One of the high-frequency words this season is resolution. Change is another word that has seen its fair share of the red carpet. It turned out to be one of the most effective and used words of 2008. The Times article on the topic of change/resolutions makes a good point when it says: "“We’re hard-wired not to change quickly,” Dr. Jacobs said. “Think of what chaos would ensue if you could snap your finger and change instantly tomorrow. You would be one person today, someone else tomorrow.”"
Another bit says:
"In a season of change, in a year of change, most people who embark on a journey of self-renewal can expect anything but. Research shows that about 80 percent of people who make resolutions on Jan. 1 fall off the wagon by Valentine’s Day, according to Marti Hope Gonzales, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota.

Such revelations will hardly come as a surprise to the repeat offenders and recidivists — that is, most of us — who year after year make, and break, the same resolutions."

Moral of the story, when making resolutions, the key ingredient of the pie is realism.

Read more here.

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Idleness Looking Chic?

I tend to think that chicness and idleness can't quite inhabit the same niche. Sort of like oil and vinegar. I suppose they're fine for certain sandwich eaters but not so ok for those of us who happen to be keen on somewhat less complicated tastes. But I digress.
Rachel Zoe, the uber-stylist, is all over the place these days.
She even has a TV show on Bravo and if you happen to catch a few minutes of it, you are bound to hear her utter phrases like "I Die. D-I-E." "You look bananas." "you're shutting it down!" and other beauties of this nature in reference to shoes, accessories, clothing et al.

Zoe has big hair, big glasses, a bit venti Starbucks cup, and a very, very small frame.

I have made a few references to her in the past many of which were satire-informed. However, what I will give Rachel Zoe today is a tip of the hat for providing a consistent 'reading' of her textile choices. While as an individual I might not be moved, at all, by her styling choices, as a reader I find her overall textual presentation most worthy of attention. For sans power, she is not!

True, there are plenty of jokes one hears about her. But one also needs to give her some credit for retaining a good measure of congealed constancy in a business that's about as fickle as ..... [hint, insert the ficklest example you are individually aware of.]

So, while the big hair, big glasses, hobo-chic look, et al., isn't quite cutting it for some of us, it seems to be doing wonders for her business.

This NY Times article on her was perhaps one of the most entertaining things I read after our power and internet were given back to us.

A bit therefrom says:
"A Starbucks cup is essential to the entire gestalt. If you have seen Mary-Kate Olsen, then you can envision Rachel Zoe. The look conveys idleness, and its uncanny effect has been to make people who don’t do anything famous for doing nothing. Styling celebrities in her own strung-out ’70s glam style — Grecian tops over lean trousers, boxy miniskirts, visible clavicles, bug-eyed sunglasses, heavy gold necklaces, big rings — Ms. Zoe has landed her clients on the pages of magazines like Us with an impressive regularity."
Read more here.
Graph per wiki