<Articles>Physical Inactivity of Workers and Its Relation to the Uneven Allocation of Public Sports Facilities

[Abstract] Personal lifestyle choices such as leisure-time physical activity are major determinants of individual health and happiness. However, price discrimination exists between municipalities at almost public sports facilities. Using micro-data from nationwide surveys, I examined the policy effects of promoting cross-border use of public sports facilities by workers in Japan, taking into account the endogeneity problem among physical activity, self-assessed health, and happiness. A proxy variable of the number of potential users of public sports facilities had two opposite effects: a negative effect on physical inactivity and a positive effect on latent health. The results indicated that abolishing price discrimination between municipalities to promotethe cross-border use of public sports facilities would increase the health of the individuals