15.06.2023

(No) effect of sports related public expenditures on sports participation

In a joint project, researchers from the University of Tübingen (Institute of Sports Science, PI: Tim Pawlowski) and the University of St. Gallen (Swiss Institute for Empirical Economic Research, PI: Michael Lechner) analysed the effects of local public expenditures on sports facilities. A second paper has now been published.

In this project jointly funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) administrative data on public finances of all municipalities in Germany were merged with individual-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and analysed at the German Institut for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin.

The second paper, now published in Economic Inquiry, proposes a potential alternative procedure to assess balancing in the case of a continuous treatment. Results of the empirical analysis suggest that there is no effect of sports expenditures on the probability to practice sports. This study thus complements a paper published in Labour Economics revealing positive effects of sports-related public expenditures on individual labour market outcomes.

Overall, it can be concluded from the project that higher spendings on sports facilities could increase the activity level of physically active individuals. These changes seem sufficient to unfold positive labour market effects in the longer run. At the same time, however, no significant changes in activity patterns of previously inactive individuals are evident.

Funding: Supported by the German Research Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation

Reference: Steckenleiter, C., Lechner, M., Pawlowski, T. & Schüttoff, U. (2023). Do local expenditures on sports facilities affect sports participation? Economic Inquiry, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13161

YouTube presentation: Reading Online Sport Economics Seminar (ROSES)