Citation

Xu D. Transp. Res. D Trans. Environ. 2019; 67: 89-108.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.trd.2018.11.002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

More than 50 bikeshare programs have been launched in the U.S. since 2010. In this paper, I estimate the effects of bikeshare programs on the prevalence of obesity at the county level. To do so, I merge bikeshare system data with obesity data released by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and construct a county-level panel covering the period of 2007-2013. I employ a difference-in-differences empirical framework, in which I compare the obesity rate before and after the introduction of the bikeshare programs in counties that have ever launched bikeshare programs, and use counties that have never introduced bikeshare programs as the control group. Difference-in-differences estimates suggest the significant public health effect of bikeshare programs: the introduction of the bikeshare programs leads to moderate declines in obesity rates; a possible mechanism is its impacts on leisure-time physical activities. I also conduct various additional tests to check the robustness of the above findings. These tests show that the conclusion of this paper is robust to changes to samples and empirical models.

Language: en

Keywords

Bicycle; Bikeshare; Obesity; Public health; Transportation; U.S.