IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sfu/sfudps/dp25-02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Not Too Hot to Run: Adaptation to Extreme Heat in Competitive Runners

Author

Listed:

Abstract

This paper examines how adaptation shapes the impact of extreme heat on labor productivity. We use global data on competitive runners, combined with highresolution weather information, to estimate how race-day heat affects running speed. Consistent with adaptation, we find that runners from hotter countries are significantly less affected by extreme temperatures. The performance gap is most pronounced in endurance events and narrows in high-stakes races, suggesting that both physiological factors and incentives may play a role. Our findings contribute to the literature on climate adaptation by providing evidence that prior exposure reduces sensitivity to heat.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernando M. Aragon, Mahyar Rezazadeh, 2025. "Not Too Hot to Run: Adaptation to Extreme Heat in Competitive Runners," Discussion Papers dp25-02, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    • Handle: RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp25-02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sfu.ca/repec-econ/sfu/sfudps/dp25-02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marshall Burke & Vincent Tanutama & Sam Heft-Neal & Miyuki Hino & David Lobell, 2023. "Game, Sweat, Match: Temperature and Elite Worker Productivity," NBER Working Papers 31650, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Matteo Picchio & Jan C. van Ours, 2024. "High temperatures and workplace injuries," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-057/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Picchio, Matteo & van Ours, Jan C., 2024. "The impact of high temperatures on performance in work-related activities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Feriga, Moustafa & Lozano Gracia, Nancy & Serneels, Pieter, 2024. "The Impact of Climate Change on Work Lessons for Developing Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 16914, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Moustafa Feriga & Mancy Lozano Gracia & Pieter Serneels, 2024. "The impact of climate change on work lessons for developing countries," CSAE Working Paper Series 2024-02, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    5. Zhang, Jingfang & Malikov, Emir & Miao, Ruiqing, 2024. "Distributional effects of the increasing heat incidence on labor productivity," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    6. Mario Lackner & Hendrik Sonnabend, 2024. "When performance melts away: Heat causes mental errors in high-stakes competitions," Economics working papers 2024-11, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    7. Edoardo Santoni & Margherita Scarlato & Nicolò Barbieri & Caterina Conigliani, 2025. "Heat and work-related injuries: How temperature measurement affects outcomes," SEEDS Working Papers 0225, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Mar 2025.
    8. Picchio, Matteo & van Ours, Jan C., 2025. "Corrigendum to “The impact of high temperatures on performance in work-related activities” [Labour Economics, 87, 2024, 102509]," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    More about this item

    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:sfu:sfudps:dp25-02. 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: Working Paper Coordinator (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/desfuca.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.