IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/79473.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Running with a Mask? The Effect of Air Pollution on Marathon Runners’ Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Fu, Shihe
  • Guo, Mengmeng

Abstract

Using a sample of over 0.3 million marathon runners in 37 cities and 55 races in China in 2014 and 2015, we estimate the air pollution elasticity of finish time to be 0.041. Our causal identification comes from the exogeneity of air pollution on the race day because runners are required to register a race a few months in advance and we control for city fixed effects, seasonal effects, and weather condition on the race day. Including individual fixed effects also provides consistent evidence. Our study contributes to the emerging literature on the effect of air pollution on short-run productivity, particularly on the performance of athletes engaging outdoor sports and other workers whose jobs require intensive physical activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Fu, Shihe & Guo, Mengmeng, 2017. "Running with a Mask? The Effect of Air Pollution on Marathon Runners’ Performance," MPRA Paper 79473, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:79473
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/79473/1/MPRA_paper_79473.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth Y. Chay & Michael Greenstone, 2003. "The Impact of Air Pollution on Infant Mortality: Evidence from Geographic Variation in Pollution Shocks Induced by a Recession," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 1121-1167.
    2. 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.
    3. Joshua Graff Zivin & Matthew Neidell, 2013. "Environment, Health, and Human Capital," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(3), pages 689-730, September.
    4. Fu, Shihe & Viard, Brian & Zhang, Peng, 2017. "Air Quality and Manufacturing Firm Productivity: Comprehensive Evidence from China," MPRA Paper 78914, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. 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.
    6. Nour El Helou & Muriel Tafflet & Geoffroy Berthelot & Julien Tolaini & Andy Marc & Marion Guillaume & Christophe Hausswirth & Jean-François Toussaint, 2012. "Impact of Environmental Parameters on Marathon Running Performance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(5), pages 1-9, May.
    7. Achyuta Adhvaryu & Namrata Kala & Anant Nyshadham, 2019. "Management and Shocks to Worker Productivity," NBER Working Papers 25865, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Sinan Aral & Christos Nicolaides, 2017. "Exercise contagion in a global social network," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-8, April.
    9. 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.
    10. Lavy, Victor & Ebenstein, Avraham & Roth, Sefi, 2014. "The Impact of Short Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution on Cognitive Performance and Human Capital Formation," CEPR Discussion Papers 10302, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Neidell, Matthew J., 2004. "Air pollution, health, and socio-economic status: the effect of outdoor air quality on childhood asthma," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1209-1236, November.
    12. Jiaxiu He & Haoming Liu & Alberto Salvo, 2019. "Severe Air Pollution and Labor Productivity: Evidence from Industrial Towns in China," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 173-201, January.
    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. Chen, Xiao & Guo, Gangxing, 2024. "Air pollution and online lender behavior: Evidence from Chinese peer-to-peer lending," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Fu, Shihe & Viard, V. Brian & Zhang, Peng, 2022. "Trans-boundary air pollution spillovers: Physical transport and economic costs by distance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    5. Fu, Shihe & Viard, Brian & Zhang, Peng, 2017. "Air Quality and Manufacturing Firm Productivity: Comprehensive Evidence from China," MPRA Paper 78914, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Anthony Heyes & Nicholas Rivers & Brandon Schaufele, 2016. "Politicians, Pollution and Performance in the Workplace: The Effect of PM on MPs," Working Papers 1616E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    7. Min Zhang & Mark D. Partridge & Huasheng Song, 2020. "Amenities and the geography of innovation: evidence from Chinese cities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(1), pages 105-145, August.
    8. Aragón, Fernando M. & Miranda, Juan Jose & Oliva, Paulina, 2017. "Particulate matter and labor supply: The role of caregiving and non-linearities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 295-309.
    9. Diane Alexander & Hannes Schwandt, 2022. "The Impact of Car Pollution on Infant and Child Health: Evidence from Emissions Cheating," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(6), pages 2872-2910.
    10. Michelle Marcus, 2021. "Pollution at schools and children's aerobic capacity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 3016-3031, December.
    11. Damini Singh & Indrani Gupta & Sagnik Dey, 2022. "Effect of Air Pollution on Cognitive Performance in India," IEG Working Papers 452, Institute of Economic Growth.
    12. Dolores de la Mata & Carlos Felipe Gaviria Garces, 2019. "Exposure to Pollution and Infant Health: Evidence from Colombia," CINCH Working Paper Series 1902, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health.
    13. Colmer, Jonathan & Lin, Dajun & Liu, Siying & Shimshack, Jay, 2021. "Why are pollution damages lower in developed countries? Insights from high-Income, high-particulate matter Hong Kong," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Zhenyu Yao & Wei Zhang & Xinde Ji & Weizhe Weng, 2023. "Short-Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Cognitive Performance: New Evidence from China’s College English Test," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(1), pages 211-237, May.
    15. 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.
    16. Shr, Yau-Huo & Hsu, Wen & Hwang, Bing-Fang & Jung, Chau-Ren, 2023. "Air quality and risky behaviors on roads," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    17. Bridget Hoffmann & Juan Pablo Rud, 2022. "Exposure or Income? The Unequal Effects of Pollution on Daily Labor Supply," Working Papers 109, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    18. Matthew Neidell & Nico Pestel, 2023. "Air pollution and worker productivity," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 363-363, February.
    19. Nguyen, Hung T. & Pham, Mia Hang, 2021. "Air pollution and behavioral biases: Evidence from stock market anomalies," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    20. Ron Chan & Martino Pelli & Veronica Vienne, 2023. "Air Pollution, Smoky Days and Hours Worked," CIRANO Working Papers 2023s-15, CIRANO.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Air pollution; marathon; outdoor behavior; mega events; short-run productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

    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:pra:mprapa:79473. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.