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Running With a Mask? The Effect of Air Pollution on Marathon Runners’ Performance

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  • Mengmeng Guo
  • Shihe Fu

Abstract

Using a sample of more than 0.3 million marathon runners of 56 race events in China in 2014 and 2015, we estimate the air pollution elasticity of finish time to be 0.041. Our causal identification comes from the exogeneity of air pollution on the race day because runners are required to register for a race a few months in advance and we control for confounding factors. Including individual fixed effects also provides consistent evidence. Our study contributes to the emerging literature on the effect of air pollution on short-run productivity, particularly on the performance of athletes engaging in outdoor sports.

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  • Mengmeng Guo & Shihe Fu, 2019. "Running With a Mask? The Effect of Air Pollution on Marathon Runners’ Performance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(7), pages 903-928, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:20:y:2019:i:7:p:903-928
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002518822701
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    8. Naidenova, Iuliia & Parshakov, Petr & Suvorov, Sergei, 2022. "Air pollution and individual productivity: Evidence from the Ironman Triathlon results," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    9. Yu Qin & Jing Wu & Rongjie Zhang, 2022. "Can Professional Football Players Adapt to Air Pollution? Evidence From China," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 23(3), pages 277-300, April.
    10. Humphreys, Brad R. & Ruseski, Jane E., 2023. "Air quality and employee performance in teams: Evidence from the NFL," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
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    15. Shiyu Bo, 2021. "Environmental Regulations, Political Incentives and Local Economic Activities: Evidence from China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(3), pages 812-835, June.
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