Jane E. Ruseski

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND HEALTH OUTCOMES: EVIDENCE FROM CANADA

Health production models include participation in physical activity as an input. We investigate the relationship between participation in physical activity and health using a bivariate probit model. Participation is identified with an exclusion restriction on a variable reflecting sense of belonging to the community. Estimates based on data from Cycle 3.1 of the Canadian Community Health Survey indicate that participation in physical activity reduces the reported incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma, and arthritis as well as being in fair or poor health. Increasing the intensity above the moderate level and frequency of participation in physical activity appears to have a diminishing marginal impact on adverse health outcomes. Our results provide support for guidelines about engaging in exercise regularly to achieve health benefits.

An Economic Analysis of Participation and Time Spent in Physical Activity

Abstract This paper develops and estimates an economic model of physical activity that distinguishes between the participation and duration decisions (extensive and intensive margins). Results from IV estimators indicate that economic factors like income and opportunity cost of time are important determinants of physical activity and affect the participation and time spent decisions differently. Individuals with higher income are more likely to participate but, conditional on participation, spend less time engaged in physical activity. Individual characteristics like gender, race, marital status and having children also play an important role in the participation and duration decisions.

Family structure, time constraints, and sport participation

Recent research emphasizes the importance of economic factors on sport participation. We extend this by examining the role played by time constraints and family structure in survey data from Rheinberg, Germany. Based on empirical models that account for the two-part decision—the decision to participate and the decision about how long to participate—involved, we find that time constraints in the form of time spent caring for children and relatives and family structure in the form of the presence of children reduce both the likelihood that individuals participate and the time spent taking part in sports.

Sport participation and subjective well-being: instrumental variable results from German survey data.

BACKGROUND A major policy goal of many ministries of sport and health is increased participation in sport to promote health. A growing literature is emerging about the benefits of sport participation on happiness. A challenge in establishing a link between sport participation and happiness is controlling for endogeneity of sport participation in the happiness equation. METHODS This study seeks to establish causal evidence of a relationship between sport participation and self reported happiness using instrumental variables (IV). RESULTS IV estimates based on data from a 2009 population survey living in Rheinberg, Germany indicate that individuals who participate in sport have higher life happiness. The results suggest a U-shaped relationship between age and self-reported happiness. Higher income is associated with greater self-reported happiness, males are less happy than females, and single individuals are less happy than nonsingles. CONCLUSIONS Since the results are IV, this finding is interpreted as a causal relationship between sport participation and subjective well-being (SWB). This broader impact of sport participation on general happiness lends support to the policy priority of many governments to increase sport participation at all levels of the general population.

ECONOMIC FREEDOM, SPORT POLICY, AND INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPATION IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

Many countries promote participation in physical activity among its citizens. We undertake an international comparative analysis of participation using data from 34 countries in the 2007 International Social Survey Programme Leisure Time and Sports module, augmented with country‐specific characteristics capturing economic freedom and national sport policy. Gross domestic product per capita and economic freedom are associated with higher physical activity participation; past success of the national team in the Olympics is associated with lower participation, but hosting sports mega‐events is associated with higher participation. Our findings indicate that participation in sport and physical activity falls with age and rises with education and income.

Trends in NCAA athletic spending: arms race or rising tide?

We develop and empirically test a model of intercollegiate athletic department expenditure decisions. The model extends general dynamic models of nonprice competition and includes the idea that nonprofit athletic departments may simply set expenditure equal to revenues. Own and rival prestige are included in the athletic departments’ utility functions, generating rivalrous interaction. The model predicts that current own and rival investment has multi-period effects on prestige since investment is durable. We test the model using data from National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletic programs from 2006-2011, and the models incorporate spatial autocorrelation that captures dynamic rivalrous interaction. Results support the predictions of both models—NCAA Division I athletic programs appear to engage in dynamic nonprice competition in terms of expenditure and spend all revenues generated.

Modeling Internal Decision Making Process: An Explanation Of Conflicting Empirical Results On Behavior Of Non‐Profit And For‐Profit Hospitals

This paper develops multiobjective models of hospital decision making that incorporate the internal decision process in both a for-profit and a nonprofit hospital. Predicted output and quality for a nonprofit hospital differ from those for a for-profit hospital under some conditions but converge under others. Convergence may be the result of a complex internal decision structure with decision control primarily by physicians; similar objectives across different organizational forms; or differing constraints. The mechanisms underlying these outcomes provide explanations for conflicting result in empirical studies of nonprofit and for-profit hospitals and provide a different rationale for convergence than nonprofit response to competition from for-profit hospitals. Understanding the source of convergence is important for policies directed toward the tax treatment of nonproift hospitals.

Problems With Data on the Sport Industry

Estimating the size of the sport industry is an important exercise. Unlike other industries, the sport industry extends across the usual classifications of economic activity included in national income and product accounts (NIPAs) and includes mass participation in sport and watching, listening, and following sport competitions on various media. Data from each of these areas have problems that make it difficult to accurately estimate the size of the sport industry.

Trends and Regional Variation in Hospital Mortality, Length of Stay and Cost in Hospital of Ischemic Stroke Patients in Alberta Accompanying the Provincial Reorganization of Stroke Care

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to evaluate the trends and regional variation of stroke hospital care in 30-day in-hospital mortality, hospital length of stay (LOS), and 1-year total hospitalization cost after implementation of the Alberta Provincial Stroke Strategy. METHODS New ischemic stroke patients (N = 7632) admitted to Alberta acute care hospitals between 2006 and 2011 were followed for 1 year. We analyzed in-hospital mortality with logistic regression, LOS with negative binomial regression, and the hospital costs with generalized gamma model (log link). The risk-adjusted results were compared over years and between zones using observed/expected results. RESULTS The risk-adjusted mortality rates decreased from 12.6% in 2006/2007 to 9.9% in 2010/2011. The regional variations in mortality decreased from 8.3% units in 2008/2009 to 5.6 in 2010/2011. The LOS of the first episode dropped significantly in 2010/2011 after a 4-year slight increase. The regional variation in LOS was 15.5 days in 2006/2007 and decreased to 10.9 days in 2010/2011. The 1-year hospitalization cost increased initially, and then kept on declining during the last 3 years. The South and Calgary zones had the lowest costs over the study period. However, this gap was diminishing. CONCLUSIONS After implementation of the Alberta Provincial Stroke Strategy, both mortality and hospital costs demonstrated a decreasing trend during the later years of study. The LOS increased slightly during the first 4 years but had a significant drop at the last year. In general, the regional variations in all 3 indicators had a diminishing trend.

Participation in Physical Activity and Health Outcomes: Evidence from the Canadian Community Health Survey

Including an array of distinguished contributors, this novel book fills a gap in the literature by addressing an important, yet under-researched, issue in the field of sports economics. It places great emphasis on the notion that sport is a significant component for improving the happiness, health and well-being of citizens, communities and society as a whole. In so doing, it addresses whether, in an environment of increasing pressure on public spending, governments should continue to subsidize sporting activities at the expense of other public resources.