Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/279129 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16431
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
High temperatures can have a negative effect on work-related activities. Labor productivity may go down because mental health or physical health is worse when it is too warm. Workers may experience difficulties concentrating or they have to reduce effort in order to cope with heat. We investigate how temperature affects performance of male professional tennis players. We use data about outdoor singles matches from 2003 until 2021. Our identification strategy relies on the plausible exogeneity of short-term daily temperature variations in a given tournament from the average temperature over the same tournament. We find that performance significantly decreases with ambient temperature. The magnitude of the temperature effect is age-specific and skill-specific. Older and less-skilled players suffer more from high temperatures than younger and more skilled players do. The effect of temperature on performance is smaller when there is more at stake. Our findings also suggest that there is adaptation to high temperatures: the effects are smaller if the heat lasts for several days.
Subjects: 
climate change
temperatures
tennis
performance
productivity
JEL: 
J24
J81
Q51
Q54
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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