IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp7690.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Heterogeneous Sports Participation and Labour Market Outcomes in England

Author

Listed:
  • Lechner, Michael

    (University of St. Gallen)

  • Downward, Paul

    (Loughborough University)

Abstract

Based on a unique composite dataset measuring heterogeneous sports participation, labour market outcomes and local facilities provision, this paper examines for the first time the association between different types of sports participation on employment and earnings in England. Clear associations between labour market outcomes and sports participation are established through matching estimation whilst controlling for some important confounding factors. The results suggest a link between different types of sports participation to initial access to employment and then higher income opportunities with ageing. However, these vary between the genders and across sports. Specifically, the results suggest that team sports contribute most to employability, but that this varies by age across genders and that outdoor activities contribute most towards higher incomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Lechner, Michael & Downward, Paul, 2013. "Heterogeneous Sports Participation and Labour Market Outcomes in England," IZA Discussion Papers 7690, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7690
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp7690.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Becker, Gary S, 1974. "A Theory of Social Interactions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1063-1093, Nov.-Dec..
    2. Lipscomb, Stephen, 2007. "Secondary school extracurricular involvement and academic achievement: a fixed effects approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 463-472, August.
    3. Felfe, Christina & Lechner, Michael & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2011. "Sport and Child Development," Economics Working Paper Series 1135, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    4. Michael Lechner & Ruth Miquel & Conny Wunsch, 2011. "Long‐Run Effects Of Public Sector Sponsored Training In West Germany," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 742-784, August.
    5. Betsey Stevenson, 2010. "Beyond the Classroom: Using Title IX to Measure the Return to High School Sports," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(2), pages 284-301, May.
    6. Pfeifer, Christian & Cornelißen, Thomas, 2010. "The impact of participation in sports on educational attainment--New evidence from Germany," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 94-103, February.
    7. Charlotte Cabane, 2011. "Do Sporty People Have Access to Higher Job Quality?," Chapters, in: Plácido Rodríguez & Stefan Késenne & Brad R. Humphreys (ed.), The Economics of Sport, Health and Happiness, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Brad R. Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski, 2015. "The Economic Choice of Participation and Time Spent in Physical Activity and Sport in Canada," International Journal of Sport Finance, Fitness Information Technology, vol. 10(2), pages 138-159, May.
    9. Dan-Olof Rooth, 2009. "Obesity, Attractiveness, and Differential Treatment in Hiring: A Field Experiment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(3).
    10. Bradley Ewing, 1995. "High school athletics and the wages of black males," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 65-78, June.
    11. John M. Barron & Bradley T. Ewing & Glen R. Waddell, 2000. "The Effects Of High School Athletic Participation On Education And Labor Market Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(3), pages 409-421, August.
    12. Carneiro, Pedro & Heckman, James J., 2003. "Human Capital Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 821, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Charlotte Cabane, 2010. "Do sporty people have access to higher job quality ?," Post-Print halshs-00476028, HAL.
    14. Rees, Daniel I. & Sabia, Joseph J., 2010. "Sports participation and academic performance: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 751-759, October.
    15. James J. Heckman & Jora Stixrud & Sergio Urzua, 2006. "The Effects of Cognitive and Noncognitive Abilities on Labor Market Outcomes and Social Behavior," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 411-482, July.
    16. Paul Downward & Joseph Riordan, 2007. "Social Interactions And The Demand For Sport: An Economic Analysis," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 25(4), pages 518-537, October.
    17. Bradley T. Ewing, 2007. "The Labor Market Effects of High School Athletic Participation," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 8(3), pages 255-265, June.
    18. Michael T. Maloney & Robert E. McCormick, 1993. "An Examination of the Role That Intercollegiate Athletic Participation Plays in Academic Achievement: Athletes' Feats in the Classroom," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 28(3), pages 555-570.
    19. Eberth, Barbara & Smith, Murray D., 2010. "Modelling the participation decision and duration of sporting activity in Scotland," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 822-834, July.
    20. Long, James E & Caudill, Steven B, 1991. "The Impact of Participation in Intercollegiate Athletics on Income and Graduation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(3), pages 525-531, August.
    21. Paul Downward & Simona Rasciute, 2011. "Does sport make you happy? An analysis of the well-being derived from sports participation," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 331-348.
    22. Michael Grossman, 1972. "The Demand for Health: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gros72-1, October.
    23. Coombes, Emma & Jones, Andrew P. & Hillsdon, Melvyn, 2010. "The relationship of physical activity and overweight to objectively measured green space accessibility and use," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 816-822, March.
    24. Meltzer, David O. & Jena, Anupam B., 2010. "The economics of intense exercise," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 347-352, May.
    25. Hughes, S.L. & Seymour, R.B. & Campbell, R.T. & Whitelaw, N. & Bazzarre, T., 2009. "Best-practice physical activity programs for older adults: Findings from the National Impact Study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(2), pages 362-368.
    26. Lisa Farrell & Michael A. Shields, 2002. "Investigating the economic and demographic determinants of sporting participation in England," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 165(2), pages 335-348, June.
    27. Brad R. Humphreys & Logan McLeod & Jane E. Ruseski, 2014. "Physical Activity And Health Outcomes: Evidence From Canada," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(1), pages 33-54, January.
    28. Lechner, Michael, 2009. "Long-run labour market and health effects of individual sports activities," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 839-854, July.
    29. Paul Downward, 2007. "Exploring the Economic Choice to Participate in Sport: Results from the 2002 General Household Survey," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 633-653.
    30. Racine, Jeffrey S. & MacKinnon, James G., 2007. "Inference via kernel smoothing of bootstrap P values," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 51(12), pages 5949-5957, August.
    31. Kaczynski, A.T. & Potwarka, L.R. & Saelens P, B.E., 2008. "Association of park size, distance, and features with physical activity in neighborhood parks," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(8), pages 1451-1456.
    32. Jacob Mincer, 1958. "Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(4), pages 281-281.
    33. Martin Huber & Michael Lechner & Andreas Steinmayr, 2015. "Radius matching on the propensity score with bias adjustment: tuning parameters and finite sample behaviour," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 1-31, August.
    34. Huber, Martin & Lechner, Michael & Wunsch, Conny, 2013. "The performance of estimators based on the propensity score," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 175(1), pages 1-21.
    35. Ewing, Bradley T., 1998. "Athletes and work," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 113-117, April.
    36. Eide, Eric R. & Ronan, Nick, 2001. "Is participation in high school athletics an investment or a consumption good?: Evidence from high school and beyond," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 431-442, October.
    37. Jaume García & Fernando Lera-López & María José Suárez, 2011. "Estimation of a Structural Model of the Determinants of the Time Spent on Physical Activity and Sport," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(5), pages 515-537, October.
    38. Yona Rubinstein & James J. Heckman, 2001. "The Importance of Noncognitive Skills: Lessons from the GED Testing Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 145-149, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cabane, Charlotte & Hille, Adrian & Lechner, Michael, 2015. "Mozart or Pelé? The effects of teenagers’ participation in music and sports," Economics Working Paper Series 1509, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    2. Lechner, Michael & Sari, Nazmi, 2015. "Labor market effects of sports and exercise: Evidence from Canadian panel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-15.
    3. Mario Nosvelli, 2023. "Mens sana in corpore sano: the effects of sport on children’s learning in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(2), pages 703-729, July.
    4. Pawlowski, Tim & Steckenleiter, Carina & Wallrafen, Tim & Lechner, Michael, 2021. "Individual labor market effects of local public expenditures on sports," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    5. Marco Domizio & Elena Fabrizi, 2024. "Ask me if I am happy: sport practice and life satisfaction in Italy," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(6), pages 5865-5881, December.
    6. Pawlowski, Tim & Schüttoff, Ute & Downward, Paul & Lechner, Michael, 2014. "Sport participation and Child Development in Less Developed Countries," Economics Working Paper Series 1433, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    7. J. Celse, 2025. "Athletes vs. Musicians: Perceptions and Preferences in Workplace Social Programs," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(2), pages 1029-1039, March.
    8. Pawlowski, Tim & Schüttoff, Ute & Downward, Paul & Lechner, Michael, 2014. "Children’s skill formation in less developed countries – The impact of sports participation," Economics Working Paper Series 1412, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    9. Cabane Charlotte & Lechner Michael, 2015. "Physical Activity of Adults: A Survey of Correlates, Determinants, and Effects," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 235(4-5), pages 376-402, August.
    10. Thierry Kamionka, 2021. "Sporting Activity, Employment Status and Wage," Post-Print hal-03294084, HAL.
    11. Anna Makles & Kerstin Schneider, 2017. "Extracurricular educational programs and school readiness: evidence from a quasi-experiment with preschool children," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1181-1204, June.
    12. Pascal Izzicupo & Angela Di Baldassarre & Barbara Ghinassi & Ilvis Abelkalns & Ugis Bisenieks & Antonio Sánchez-Pato & Francisco José Cánovas-Alvarez & António J Figueiredo & Juan Alfonso García-Roca , 2022. "Exploring dual career quality implementation at European higher education institutions: Insights from university experts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(11), pages 1-23, November.
    13. Martin Grossmann, 2021. "Asymmetric Opportunities After an Unsuccessful Sports Career," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 22(5), pages 587-612, June.
    14. Delavande, Adeline & Del Bono, Emilia & Holford, Angus, 2022. "Academic and non-academic investments at university: The role of expectations, preferences and constraints," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 231(1), pages 74-97.
    15. Lechner, Michael & Hille, Adrian & Cabane, Charlotte, 2015. "Mozart or Pelé? The effects of teenagers? participation in music and sports," CEPR Discussion Papers 10556, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Sari, Nazmi & Lechner, Michael, 2015. "Long-run health effects of sports and exercise in Canada," Economics Working Paper Series 1520, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    17. Michael Lechner, 2015. "Sports, exercise, and labor market outcomes," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 126-126, February.
    18. Michael A. Leeds, 2015. "Youth sports and the accumulation of human capital," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 129-129, February.
    19. Hanna Nałęcz & Łukasz Skrok & Dawid Majcherek & Elżbieta Biernat, 2020. "Through Sport to Innovation: Sustainable Socio-Economic Development in European Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-16, December.
    20. Cabane, Charlotte & Hille, Adrian & Lechner, Michael, 2016. "Mozart or Pelé? The effects of adolescents' participation in music and sports," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 90-103.

    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. Cabane Charlotte & Lechner Michael, 2015. "Physical Activity of Adults: A Survey of Correlates, Determinants, and Effects," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 235(4-5), pages 376-402, August.
    2. Cabane, Charlotte & Hille, Adrian & Lechner, Michael, 2015. "Mozart or Pelé? The effects of teenagers’ participation in music and sports," Economics Working Paper Series 1509, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    3. Pawlowski, Tim & Schüttoff, Ute & Downward, Paul & Lechner, Michael, 2014. "Children’s skill formation in less developed countries – The impact of sports participation," Economics Working Paper Series 1412, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    4. Lechner, Michael & Hille, Adrian & Cabane, Charlotte, 2015. "Mozart or Pelé? The effects of teenagers? participation in music and sports," CEPR Discussion Papers 10556, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Cabane, Charlotte & Hille, Adrian & Lechner, Michael, 2016. "Mozart or Pelé? The effects of adolescents' participation in music and sports," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 90-103.
    6. Pawlowski, Tim & Schüttoff, Ute & Downward, Paul & Lechner, Michael, 2014. "Sport participation and Child Development in Less Developed Countries," Economics Working Paper Series 1433, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    7. Sari, Nazmi & Lechner, Michael, 2015. "Long-run health effects of sports and exercise in Canada," Economics Working Paper Series 1520, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    8. Tim Pawlowski & Ute Schüttoff & Paul Downward & Michael Lechner, 2018. "Can Sport Really Help to Meet the Millennium Development Goals? Evidence From Children in Peru," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(4), pages 498-521, May.
    9. Charlotte Cabane & Andrew E. Clark, 2015. "Childhood Sporting Activities andAdult Labour-Market Outcome," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 119-120, pages 123-148.
    10. Fricke, Hans & Lechner, Michael & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2018. "The effects of incentives to exercise on student performance in college," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 14-39.
    11. Felfe, Christina & Lechner, Michael & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2011. "Sport and Child Development," Economics Working Paper Series 1135, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    12. Peter D. Lunn & Elish Kelly, 2015. "Participation in School Sport and Post-School Pathways: Evidence from Ireland," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 232(1), pages 51-66, May.
    13. Lechner, Michael & Sari, Nazmi, 2015. "Labor market effects of sports and exercise: Evidence from Canadian panel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-15.
    14. Lechner, Michael & Fricke, Hans & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2017. "The Effect of Physical Activity on Student Performance in College: An Experimental Evaluation," CEPR Discussion Papers 12052, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00875305 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Katie Schultz, 2017. "Do High School Athletes Get Better Grades During the Off-Season?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(2), pages 182-208, February.
    17. Mario Nosvelli, 2023. "Mens sana in corpore sano: the effects of sport on children’s learning in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(2), pages 703-729, July.
    18. Lechner, Michael, 2009. "Long-run labour market and health effects of individual sports activities," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 839-854, July.
    19. Caruso, Raul, 2011. "Crime and sport participation: Evidence from Italian regions over the period 1997–2003," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 455-463.
    20. Hyytinen, Ari & Lahtonen, Jukka, 2013. "The effect of physical activity on long-term income," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 129-137.
    21. Hille, Adrian & Schupp, Jürgen, 2015. "How Learning a Musical Instrument Affects the Development of Skills," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 44, pages 56-82.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    matching estimation; labour market; human capital; sports participation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp7690. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.