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No Time to Lose? Time Constraints and Physical Activity

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  • John Mullahy
  • Stephanie A. Robert

Abstract

Although individuals are all endowed with the same time budgets, time use patterns differ owing to heterogeneity in preferences and constraints. In today's health policy arena there is considerable discussion about how to improve health outcomes by increasing levels of physical activity. In this paper, we explore how individuals endowed with different levels of human capital allocate time to physically-demanding activities that we characterize as health-producing behaviors. Our data are drawn from multiple years of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which are based on daily time use diaries and include information on detailed physical activity time uses. Since ATUS time use categories are mutually exclusive and exhaustive -- i.e. "multitasking" is not accommodated -- we employ a novel econometric share equation techniques to enforce the adding-up requirement that time use is constrained to 1,440 minutes per day. We find that differential human capital endowments result in different manifestations of how time is used to produce health. While more-educated individuals, e.g., sleep much less than less-educated individuals, they utilize some of the time so liberated to exercise and work more. We find as well that various features of individuals' environments, broadly defined, play important roles in time allocation decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • John Mullahy & Stephanie A. Robert, 2008. "No Time to Lose? Time Constraints and Physical Activity," NBER Working Papers 14513, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14513
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    2. Jorge González-Chapela, 2010. "Things that make us different: analysis of variance in the use of time," Working Papers. Serie AD 2010-18, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    3. Lakdawalla, Darius N. & Seabury, Seth A., 2012. "The welfare effects of medical malpractice liability," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 356-369.
    4. Xavier Pautrel, 2012. "Pollution, Private Investment in Healthcare, and Environmental Policy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 334-357, June.
    5. Breinlich, H & Niemann, S & Solomon, E, 2010. "A Portrait of firm Expansion and Contraction Channels," Economics Discussion Papers 2723, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    6. Courtemanche, Charles & Pinkston, Joshua C. & Stewart, Jay, 2021. "Time spent exercising and obesity: An application of Lewbel’s instrumental variables method," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    7. Pierre-Richard Agénor, 2015. "Public capital, health persistence and poverty traps," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 115(2), pages 103-131, June.
    8. Melayne M. McInnes & Judith A. Shinogle, 2011. "Physical Activity: Economic and Policy Factors," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Aspects of Obesity, pages 249-282, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Mathieu-Bolh, Nathalie & Pautrel, Xavier, 2016. "Reassessing the effects of environmental taxation when pollution affects health over the life-cycle," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 310-321.
    10. Xavier Pautrel, 2009. "Health-enhancing activities and the environment:How competition for resources make the environmental policy beneficial," Working Papers hal-00423323, HAL.
    11. Yongjin Ahn & Jongho Won, 2022. "Built Environment and Outdoor Leisure Activity under the Individual Time Budgets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-14, September.
    12. Breinlich, H & Niemann, S, 2011. "Channels of Firm Adjustment: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Economics Discussion Papers 2729, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    13. Xin Xu & Robert Kaestner, 2010. "The Business Cycle and Health Behaviors," NBER Working Papers 15737, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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