Financial Literacy and Exercise Behavior: Evidence from Japan

Abstract

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.

Who Is Next? A Study on Victims of Financial Fraud in Japan

“…Respondents' psychological characteristics show that they are moderately myopic about the future (Mean = 2.58, SD = 1.01), moderately satisfied with their current financial condition (Mean = 2.70, SD = 1.10), are anxious about their life in old age (Mean = 3.72, SD = 1.18), are careful buyers (Mean = 4.0414, SD = 0.9854), have a moderate level of trust in others (Mean = 2.81, SD = 0.95), and are moderately lonely (Mean = 2.87, SD = 1.19). The demographic, socio-economic, and psychological characteristics of respondents are consistent with previous studies (Kadoya et al, 2021;Khan et al, 2021;Ono et al, 2021;Watanapongvanich et al, 2021). Table 3 presents a detailed description of special financial frauds such as fictitious billing fraud, loan guarantee fraud, and refund fraud based on important demographic, socioeconomic, and psychological variables.…”

Financial Literacy and Alcohol Drinking Behavior: Evidence from Japan

“…The questionnaire included dichotomous, multiple, and scaling questions on demographic, socioeconomic, and psychological characteristics and preferences of the prospective participants. The scales used to measure respondents' characteristics and preferences are reliable and have already been used in similar studies [1][2][3][4]. The panel survey was conducted on a nationwide random sample of individuals every year from 2003 to 2013.…”

“…The main variable of interest is financial literacy, which we measure following Lusardi and Mitchell [39] as in other studies (e.g., [1][2][3][4]20,26,27,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46]). We provide financial literacy questions in Appendix A.…”

“…Lusardi et al [29] find that financial literacy is associated with improved cognitive ability-a means to encourage rational decision making [30] and greater health [31]. Supporting the significance of financial literacy and its relation to better health, previous studies provide evidence that financially literate people tend to make better healthcare decisions [32,33], engage less in smoking [1,2], participate less in gambling [3] and exercise more [4]. In light of these previous findings, it is evident that financial literacy can enhance people's cognitive abilities and provide them with rational finance-and health-related decision-making skills.…”

“…Recent studies find that financially literate people are less likely to engage in risky health behaviors such as smoking [1,2], gambling [3], and lack of exercise [4]. These studies argue that financial literacy, being a rational decision-making instrument, helps people think and behave more rationally, thereby reducing the tendency to engage in health-damaging behaviors.…”