TY - JOUR
T1 - Time spent exercising and obesity
T2 - An application of Lewbel's instrumental variables method
AU - Courtemanche, Charles
AU - Pinkston, Joshua C.
AU - Stewart, Jay
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - This paper examines the role physical activity plays in determining body mass using data from the American Time Use Survey. Our work is the first to address the measurement error that arises when time use during a single day—rather than average daily time use over an extended period—is used as an explanatory variable. We show that failing to account for day-to-day variation in activities results in the effects of time use on a typical day being understated. Furthermore, we account for the possibility that physical activity and body mass are jointly determined by implementing Lewbel's instrumental variables estimator that exploits first-stage heteroskedasticity rather than traditional exclusion restrictions. While averaging 30 min of transportation-related biking or walking per day lowers the BMI of men by 1.5, we find no effect of physically active leisure on the BMI of men in our sample. In contrast, 30 min of per day of either type of physical activity lowers the BMI of women by 1.
AB - This paper examines the role physical activity plays in determining body mass using data from the American Time Use Survey. Our work is the first to address the measurement error that arises when time use during a single day—rather than average daily time use over an extended period—is used as an explanatory variable. We show that failing to account for day-to-day variation in activities results in the effects of time use on a typical day being understated. Furthermore, we account for the possibility that physical activity and body mass are jointly determined by implementing Lewbel's instrumental variables estimator that exploits first-stage heteroskedasticity rather than traditional exclusion restrictions. While averaging 30 min of transportation-related biking or walking per day lowers the BMI of men by 1.5, we find no effect of physically active leisure on the BMI of men in our sample. In contrast, 30 min of per day of either type of physical activity lowers the BMI of women by 1.
KW - Exercise
KW - Heteroskedasticity
KW - Obesity
KW - Physical activity
KW - Weight
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100940
DO - 10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100940
M3 - Article
C2 - 33831711
AN - SCOPUS:85102807742
SN - 1570-677X
VL - 41
JO - Economics and Human Biology
JF - Economics and Human Biology
M1 - 100940
ER -