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International Journal of Health Economics and Management
Published in: International Journal of Health Economics and Management 4/2015

01-12-2015 | Research Article

Physical activity and time preference

Author: Vasilios D. Kosteas

Published in: International Journal of Health Economics and Management | Issue 4/2015

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Abstract

This paper investigates the link between time preference (whether a person is more present or future oriented) and time spent participating in physical activity. Using data on time spent engaged in physical activity from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979 cohort, 2006 wave, where time preference is proxied by the expected share of money saved from a hypothetical $1000 cash prize. I find that time preference is a significant predictor of the amount of time spent participating in both vigorous and light-to-moderate physical activity for women and vigorous physical activity for men. The results are robust to various sample restrictions and alternative measures of time preference. The findings in this paper fill in a gap in the relationship between time preference and body composition by examining one of the pathways through which the former might affect the latter using a large, nationally representative dataset.
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Footnotes
1
It is also not clear whether the instruments employed in the two stage residual inclusion estimation are exogenous since the paper does not provide any test statistics for the instruments.
 
2
The estimates presented in the paper are for models including one-digit occupation indicators; however results are very similar when using 3-digit occupation indicators.
 
3
Restricting the sample to individuals who averaged at least 20 h of work per week yields a slight increase in the magnitude of the estimated relationship between time preference and physical activity.
 
4
The variable is excluded from the main results since it was collected in the year when the respondent turned 40, rather than in 2006. For an individual who was 48 in 2006, the health variable would have been collected in 1998. The results including the general health variable are available upon request.
 
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Metadata
Title
Physical activity and time preference
Author
Vasilios D. Kosteas
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
International Journal of Health Economics and Management / Issue 4/2015
Print ISSN: 2199-9023
Electronic ISSN: 2199-9031
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-015-9173-1