TY  - JOUR
A1  - Marcus, Jan
A1  - Siedler, Thomas
A1  - Ziebarth, Nicolas R.
T1  - The long-run effects of sports club vouchers for primary school children
JF  - American economic journal: economic policy
N2  - Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the twenty-first century. While small-scale experiments change behaviors among adults in the short run, we know little about the effectiveness of large-scale policies or the longer-run impacts. To nudge primary school children into a long-term habit of exercising, the German state of Saxony distributed sports club membership vouchers among all 33,000 third graders in 2009. In 2018, we carried out a register-based survey to evaluate the policy. Even after a decade, awareness of the voucher program was significantly higher in the treatment group. We also find that youth received and redeemed the vouchers. However, we do not find significant short- or long-term effects on sports club membership, physical activity, overweightness, or motor skills. Apparently, membership vouchers for children are not a strong enough policy tool to overcome barriers to exercise regularly.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20200431
SN  - 1945-7731
SN  - 1945-774X
VL  - 14
IS  - 3
SP  - 128
EP  - 165
PB  - American Economic Association
CY  - Nashville
ER  -