Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/279108 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16410
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Drawing on 28 million observations on people's running times in a free weekly 5 kilometre running event, Parkrun, we examine whether labour market conditions affect fitness. Running times improve during recessions for men and women aged 50 and above but worsen for men aged 20-49 and women aged 20-29, suggesting that the fall in the opportunity costs of fitness during recessions is the dominant factor for elderly runners, whereas the income effect induced by unemployment dominates for prime age workers. Participation in Parkrun is not sensitive to the business cycle so our results are not driven by compositional changes.
Subjects: 
business cycle
health
fitness
Parkrun
JEL: 
I12
I30
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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