IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ehbiol/v47y2022ics1570677x22000557.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Air pollution and individual productivity: Evidence from the Ironman Triathlon results

Author

Listed:
  • Naidenova, Iuliia
  • Parshakov, Petr
  • Suvorov, Sergei

Abstract

The study considers how air quality affects the productivity of physically intensive labor. Namely, we analyze the athletes of the Ironman Triathlon, one of the toughest long-distance triathlon races in the world. Moreover, in this competition, both men and women, professional and amateur athletes, can participate. We consider the results of Ironman Triathlon from 2005 to 2019. Using athlete's finishing time as a dependent variable, we estimate the impact of concentrations of two main air pollutants, O3 and PM2.5. We found triathletes performance decrements in swimming due to high ozone concentration and in bicycle riding and running due to high level of PM2.5. We have also found that professional athletes are less sensitive to air pollution, whereas there is almost no gender difference in the impact of air pollution on athletes’ productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Naidenova, Iuliia & Parshakov, Petr & Suvorov, Sergei, 2022. "Air pollution and individual productivity: Evidence from the Ironman Triathlon results," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:47:y:2022:i:c:s1570677x22000557
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101159
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X22000557
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101159?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hanna, Rema & Oliva, Paulina, 2015. "The effect of pollution on labor supply: Evidence from a natural experiment in Mexico City," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 68-79.
    2. Jamie T. Mullins, 2018. "Ambient air pollution and human performance: Contemporaneous and acclimatization effects of ozone exposure on athletic performance," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(8), pages 1189-1200, August.
    3. Shihe Fu & V. Brian Viard, 2022. "A mayors perspective on tackling air pollution," Chapters, in: Charles K.Y. Leung (ed.), Handbook of Real Estate and Macroeconomics, chapter 16, pages 413-437, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Wang, Chunchao & Lin, Qianqian & Qiu, Yun, 2022. "Productivity loss amid invisible pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    5. Matthew Neidell & Nico Pestel, 2023. "Air pollution and worker productivity," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 363-363, February.
    6. Tom Y. Chang & Joshua Graff Zivin & Tal Gross & Matthew Neidell, 2019. "The Effect of Pollution on Worker Productivity: Evidence from Call Center Workers in China," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 151-172, January.
    7. Lichter, Andreas & Pestel, Nico & Sommer, Eric, 2017. "Productivity effects of air pollution: Evidence from professional soccer," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 54-66.
    8. Joshua Graff Zivin & Matthew Neidell, 2012. "The Impact of Pollution on Worker Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3652-3673, December.
    9. Mengmeng Guo & Shihe Fu, 2019. "Running With a Mask? The Effect of Air Pollution on Marathon Runners’ Performance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(7), pages 903-928, October.
    10. Tom Chang & Joshua Graff Zivin & Tal Gross & Matthew Neidell, 2016. "Particulate Pollution and the Productivity of Pear Packers," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 141-169, August.
    11. James Archsmith & Anthony Heyes & Soodeh Saberian, 2018. "Air Quality and Error Quantity: Pollution and Performance in a High-Skilled, Quality-Focused Occupation," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(4), pages 827-863.
    12. Joel Maxcy & Pamela Wicker & Joachim Prinz, 2019. "Happiness as a Reward for Torture: Is Participation in a Long-Distance Triathlon a Rational Choice?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(2), pages 177-197, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matthew Neidell & Nico Pestel, 2023. "Air pollution and worker productivity," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 363-363, February.
    2. Michelle Marcus, 2021. "Pollution at schools and children's aerobic capacity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 3016-3031, December.
    3. Felix Holub & Laura Hospido & Ulrich J. Wagner, 2020. "Urban air pollution and sick leaves: evidence from social security data," Working Papers 2041, Banco de España.
    4. Clara Kögel, 2022. "The impact of air pollution on labour productivity in France," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 22020, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    5. Borgschulte, Mark & Molitor, David & Zou, Eric Yongchen, 2022. "Air Pollution and the Labor Market: Evidence from Wildfire Smoke," IZA Discussion Papers 15373, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Bellani, Luna & Ceolotto, Stefano & Elsner, Benjamin & Pestel, Nico, 2021. "Air Pollution Affects Decision-Making: Evidence from the Ballot Box," IZA Discussion Papers 14718, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Shihe Fu & V. Brian Viard, 2022. "A mayors perspective on tackling air pollution," Chapters, in: Charles K.Y. Leung (ed.), Handbook of Real Estate and Macroeconomics, chapter 16, pages 413-437, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Künn, Steffen & Palacios, Juan & Pestel, Nico, 2019. "Indoor Air Quality and Cognitive Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 12632, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Timothy J. Halliday & Rachel Inafuku & Lester Lusher & Aureo de Paula, 2022. "VOG: Using Volcanic Eruptions to Estimate the Impact of Air Pollution on Student Learning Outcomes," Working Papers 202203, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    10. Aloys Prinz & David J. Richter, 2021. "Feinstaubbelastung und Lebenserwartung in Deutschland," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 15(3), pages 237-272, December.
    11. Cook, Nikolai & Heyes, Anthony, 2022. "Pollution pictures: Psychological exposure to pollution impacts worker productivity in a large-scale field experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    12. Joris Klingen & Jos Ommeren, 2022. "Risk-Taking and Air Pollution: Evidence from Chess," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 81(1), pages 73-93, January.
    13. Joris Klingen & Jos van Ommeren, 2020. "Risk attitude and air pollution: Evidence from chess," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-027/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Felix Bracht & Dennis Verhoeven, 2021. "Air pollution and innovation," CEP Discussion Papers dp1817, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    15. Picchio, Matteo & van Ours, Jan C., 2023. "The Impact of High Temperatures on Performance in Work-Related Activities," IZA Discussion Papers 16431, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Wolfgang Habla & Vera Huwe & Martin Kesternich, 2019. "Tempolimits und Grenzwerte: für eine evidenzbasierte verkehrspolitische Debatte [Plea for Evidence-based Policy in the Context of Air Pollution Thresholds and Speed Limits]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 99(5), pages 330-334, May.
    17. Luis Sarmiento, 2020. "Waiting for My Sentence: Air Pollution and the Productivity of Court Rulings," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1878, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    18. Luis Sarmiento, 2022. "Air pollution and the productivity of high‐skill labor: evidence from court hearings," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(1), pages 301-332, January.
    19. Agarwal, Sumit & Wang, Long & Yang, Yang, 2021. "Impact of transboundary air pollution on service quality and consumer satisfaction," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 357-380.
    20. Eren Aydin & Kathleen Kürschner Rauck, 2023. "Low-emission zones, modes of transport and house prices: evidence from Berlin’s commuter belt," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(5), pages 1847-1895, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Air quality; Air pollution; Individual productivity; Ironman Triathlon;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • Z2 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:47:y:2022:i:c:s1570677x22000557. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622964 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.