%0 Report
        %A Green, Colin P.
%A Heywood, John S.
%A Paniagua, Maria Navarro
        %T This Girl Can? The Effect of Promoting Physical Activity on Health Outcomes
        %D 2026
        %8 2026 Mar
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 18472
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18472
        %X Physical activity likely improves health. Yet, even as health outcomes are positively associated with physical activity, confounding bias exists. We examine a large-scale government campaign to encourage physical activity among women in the United Kingdom as a source of an exogenous increase. Our difference-in-differences estimates confirm a large increase in activity associated with the campaign. We use this as the basis of IV estimation indicating that physical activity leads to a reduction in BMI and a lower chance of obesity, but we find no change in other health conditions over our four-year window. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.
        %K public service campaign
%K physical activity
%K women’s health