The EconomistNovember 9th 2019 Business 552
Bartleby Take the money and run
Economist.com/blogs/bartlebyA
latin phrase beloved by every
old-fashioned British schoolmaster
was mens sana in corpore sano—a healthy
mind in a healthy body. With that, the
pedagogue would dispatch some shiv-
ering schoolchild in vest and shorts on a
three-mile cross-country run.
It turns out that those tutors were on
to something. Greater physical activity is
associated with better mental, as well as
physical, health. And it might also be
linked to greater worker productivity,
and thus faster economic growth. That is
the conclusion of a new report from
rand Europe, a think-tank, that was
commissioned by Vitality, a British
health insurer.
It is reasonably well established that
physical activity reduces the risks of
heart disease, type 2 diabetes, strokes
and some cancers. And a report by Brit-
ain’s Physical Activity Guidelines Advis-
ory Committee in 2018 found that engag-
ing in around 30 minutes of exercise a
day could lower the likelihood of depres-
sion by more than 40%. rand conducted
a workplace survey across seven coun-
tries, and it found that those who report-
ed higher levels of activity (equating to
150 minutes a week of moderate exercise,
or 75 minutes of vigorous workout) had
better mental health on average.
Does this make them better workers?
Previous studies have suggested that
those who exercise more tend to earn
5-10% more on average. A number of
factors could explain this, however.
Those who participate in team sports
may make contacts in the locker room
that help them in their careers. Or it
could simply be that higher earners can
afford to take advantage of sports facil-
ities, such as gym memberships.
The rand study looks at different
measures: absenteeism (when workerstake time off for illness) and presenteeism
(when they turn up for work but are less
productive because of sickness). The latter
measure was self-reported by employees,
who were asked whether their work was
adversely affected by health issues. The
survey suggests that between 3 and 4.5
working days each year are lost as a conse-
quence of workers being physically in-
active. This is between 1.3% and 2% of
annual working time. The bulk of this was
down to presenteeism.
Another potential gain from improved
fitness is reduced health-care costs. In
many countries, these would accrue to the
public sector. But in America, where
health care is often provided through
employment-based schemes, firms could
benefit. It is hard to know what proportion
of these costs could be trimmed, but rand
estimates that total American health
savings could be $6bn a year by 2025 (using
the same targets for moderate or vigorous
exercise as before).
That is a rounding error in America’s
annual health-care bill of $3.5trn. But,
with the help of fancy econometrics, thestudy’s authors conclude that if people
met these exercise targets, global gdp
could be around 0.17-0.24% higher by- Nothing to sniff at in a world of
slowing growth—though the uncertain-
ties involved in forecasting over such
long periods mean such estimates
should be treated with extreme caution.
How to encourage workers to become
more active? Incentives are useful but
only if they have conditions; giving all
employees subsidised gym membership
does not seem to work. Another rand
Europe study examined an experiment
in which workers were given an Apple
watch, payable in instalments at a dis-
counted price—but only to those who
agreed to have their physical activity
monitored. Monthly repayments de-
pended on how much exercise they took.
If they met the targets they ended up
paying 10% of the watch’s list price; those
who took no exercise paid the full whack.
This approach takes advantage of a
behavioural bias known as loss aver-
sion—people are eager to avoid paying
more. On average, participants in the
scheme undertook 30% more exercise
than before.
The problem is that many people are
too optimistic about their health, under-
estimating the risks they face. This
means that participation in workplace
exercise schemes tends to be low, around
7% in the sample studied by rand.
Firms are not the only ones that can
encourage a healthier lifestyle; friends
and families are likely to be more impor-
tant. But businesses can play a bigger
role. If rand is right, this may bring
them financial benefits. Company task-
masters may yet grow fond of an adapted
adage: mens sana in corporate sano.
The benefits of fitter workersand that decisions about what not to show
American users are made in America.
For his part, Mark Zuckerberg is less
worried about data sovereignty and more
about competition from TikTok, China’s
first runaway web success in America. Fa-
cebook is pulling out the big guns it de-
ploys against fast-growing upstarts. In late
2018 it launched Lasso, a TikTok clone. An
independent developer recently unearthed
a feature hidden in Instagram’s code that
apes TikTok’s editing tools. It is cold com-
fort to Mr Zuckerberg that should his de-
fences fail, Big Tech’s critics will have toconcede that digital monopolies are not
that invincible after all.
Critics of artificial intelligence are also
watching the Chinese app closely. What us-
ers see on Facebook and other Western so-
cial media is in part still down to who their
friends are and what they share. TikTok’s
main feed, called “For You”, is determined
by algorithm alone: it watches how users
behave in the app and uses the information
to decide what to play next. Such systems
create the ultimate filter bubble.
All these worries would be allayed if
TikTok turns out to be a passing fad. In away, the app is only riding on other social
networks. It relies on people’s Facebook or
Twitter accounts for many sign-ins. TikTok
owes part of its success to relentless adver-
tising on rival services. According to some
estimates, it spent perhaps $1bn on social-
media ads in 2018. At the same time, many
who download TikTok quickly tire of its
endless digital sugar-rush.
Slowing growth may not stop politi-
cians from hobbling the app. They could
decide to bar it from America altogether.
For once, Mr Zuckerberg would be cheering
them on. 7