Healthy Living in Hard Times

36 Pages Posted: 13 Mar 2003

See all articles by Christopher J. Ruhm

Christopher J. Ruhm

University of Virginia - Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: February 2003

Abstract

Using microdata for adults from the 1987-2000 years of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, I show that smoking and height-adjusted weight decline during temporary economic downturns while leisure-time physical activity rises. The drop in tobacco use occurs disproportionately among heavy smokers, the fall in body weight among the severely obese, and the increase in exercise among those who were completely inactive. Declining work hours may provide one reason why behaviors become healthier when the economy weakens, possibly by increasing the non-market time available for lifestyle investments. Conversely, there is little evidence that reductions in income play an important role. The overall conclusion is that changes in behaviors supply one mechanism for the procyclical variation in mortality and morbidity observed in recent research.

Keywords: Macroeconomic Conditions, Health, Lifestyle Behaviors

JEL Classification: E32, I12, J2

Suggested Citation

Ruhm, Christopher J., Healthy Living in Hard Times (February 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=385145 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.385145

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