Data and Code for: Worth Your Weight

I study the economic value of obesity---a status symbol in poor countries associated with raised health risks. Randomizing decision-makers in Kampala, Uganda to view weight-manipulated portraits, I find that obesity is perceived as a reliable signal of wealth but not of beauty or health. Thus, leveraging a real-stakes experiment involving professional loan officers, I show that being obese facilitates access to credit. The large obesity premium, comparable to raising borrower self-reported earnings by over 60%, is driven by asymmetric information and drops significantly when providing more financial information. Notably, obesity benefits and wealth-signaling value are commonly overestimated, suggesting market distortions. The beliefs experiment sample includes 511 Greater Kampala residents, quasi randomly selected (stratified by age group, ward of residence and gender). The credit experiment sample includes loan officers (up to three) employed at 146 licensed lending institution from the Greater Kampala Area. Loan officers from licensed lending institutions in Kampala, Uganda. General population of Kampala, Uganda..