Active Leisure, Passive Leisure and Health

Leisure consumption has been increasing in the United States since the 1960s. Over the same period, inactive lifestyles have contributed to adverse health outcomes. We propose a new way of categorizing leisure into groups based on the amount of physical exercise needed. Our results show that physically active leisure is a normal good whose demand rises with education and health, while physically passive leisure is an inferior good whose demand rises with lower education and poorer health. These patterns allow us to propose a taxonomy that categorizes various leisure activities into ‘Active’ and ‘Passive’ groups.