Financial Literacy and Exercise Behavior: Evidence from Japan
2021
Shunsuke Ono | Pattaphol Yuktadatta | Takafumi Taniguchi | Tomoe Iitsuka | Masafumi Noguchi | Sawa Tanaka | Haruka Ito | Kousei Nakamura | Nanako Yasuhara | Chihiro Miyawaki | Katsumi Mikura | Mostafa Saidur Rahim Khan | Yoshihiko Kadoya
Lack of exercise, which increases the risk of many serious physical and mental illness, has been a common health issue in Japan. Recent studies confirm that financial literacy discourages irrational behavior like gambling and smoking. We therefore investigate how financial literacy, as a rational decision-making instrument, relates to peoples’ exercise behavior in Japan. We hypothesize that financial literacy encourages people to exercise regularly. Using Osaka University’s Preference Parameters Study (PPS) for 2010, we categorized respondents into two groups: those who exercise regularly or at least once a week and those who do not. Our probit estimation results show that financial literacy is positively related with exercise behavior, meaning that financially literate people are more likely to exercise regularly. As the COVID-19 health pandemic seems to exacerbate peoples’ physical inactivity, the results of our study show an alternative approach to encourage exercise. We therefore recommend that governments implement a financial literacy improvement policy to alleviate the lack of exercise.
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