Summary Lecture Notes Economics of Physical Activity | KU Leuven | 2026/27

Silke Putzeys Economics of Physical Activity, Active Lifestyle and
Health 2025


Economics of Physical Activity, Active Lifestyle
and Health




Events make up a very important part of this economy.




 Interaction between these, is the content of this class


Bloc 1: supply and demand in S, PA, AL & H
1. Supply
Main suppliers of sport, PA, AL and health
- Government (public, non-profit)
- Voluntary sector (private, non-profit)
- Commercial sector (private, for-profit)


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,Silke Putzeys Economics of Physical Activity, Active Lifestyle and
Health 2025




 In elke sector heb je een opsplitsing in local, state, provincial, national
and international



Quasi private = OS, for profit. It looks like a
commercial sector but it isn’t

Historical perspective (Europe)
- Historically, SPA was led by the voluntary
sector
- 1960’s and 1970’s: government took a
much larger role (public subsidies, policies,
…)
- Since the beginning of the 1980’s the
commercial sector of SPA, AL & H has
shown increasing growth



1. The government
ECONOMIC RATIONALE

- Why does the government want to supply (support) sport and PA
opportunities?
- What aspect(s) should they support?
o Participant sport and PA?
o Elite sport? Q?
o Spectator sport?

PERSPECTIVES IN OTHER COUNTRIES

- US: laissez-faire approach (they don’t care, government doesn’t
intervene)
- Finland: sport is central to social policy
- Australia: elite sport is central to national identity (more effort from
government goes to elite sport)
- Flanders/Belgium?

ECONOMIC RATIONAL FOR GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION

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,Silke Putzeys Economics of Physical Activity, Active Lifestyle and
Health 2025


- Externalities (we don’t have control over it)
O e.g., roads, education, parks, recreational sport, …
O Positive
O Negative
- ‘Public goods’ versus ‘private goods’
O Non-excludable: any one can share
O Non-rival: many people can enjoy at the same time




RATIONALE FOR GOVT.INTERVENTION

- SPA as a ‘merit good’
o SPA generates social (collective) benefits over and above the
private benefits of the participants (ex: if I am healthy, this has
positive effect on the society)
- Topics:
o Appealing communities, image (people may want to come in the
community)
o Sport participation and health
o SPA and crime (evidence?)
o SPA and economic development (sport as means)
o Equity (ex. SPA for All/social inclusion policy)

WHICH POLICY TOOLS CAN BE USED (DOOR HET GOVERNMENT )? Q?

- TAXES AND SUBSIDIES
o to adjust market price up/down to adjust for over/under provision
 ex: an organisation offers PA, fitness environment for their
employees, the government may support that directly
- DIRECTLY SUPPLY ACTIVITY/INCENTIVES/ SUBSIDIES (*1)
- INFORMATION PROVISION (*2)

THE USE OF PRICE MECHANISMS (*1)
- Employer subsidies or directly subsidizing employees (choice)
- Encourage firms to be flexible on work times
- Subsidizing individuals directly through vouchers, swipe cards, ... for
use of sport facilities (ex: a subsidie card for low-income employees)

RECENT ISSUES WITH GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
- Subsidizing prof. sports teams and/or professional sports facilities

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, Silke Putzeys Economics of Physical Activity, Active Lifestyle and
Health 2025


 Football in Belgium? Teams and stadiums (government subsidies)
- Privatization
- Public-private partnerships
o Sports facilities (ex: sportoase)

Move to privatization  mixed results
Government intervention
- If SPA is a ‘merit’ good and a positive externality  govt. intervention =
must,
BUT
- there is not a great deal of evidence that government intervention is
achieving its economic justification

2. The voluntary sector
ABOUT NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
- Volunteer-based organizations
o Board of Directors / Executive Committee
 They make decisions, develop policies for their
organizations
o These volunteers also hire paid staff to carry out the day to day
operations
- Focus is on providing programs / services, NOT on making a profit (its
just not their primary goal, some of them may make profit, but it goes
back in to the organization)
- Different focus, types, & levels of nonprofit organizations in our ‘field’
o Structure and scale of voluntary SPA sector
 International sport governing bodies
 National sport governing bodies
 Provincial sport bodies
 Voluntary sport clubs
 Socio-cultural organizations
 School sport
 College/University sport
o Types of non-profit organizations
(examen = kunnen uitleggen + voorbeeld)
 Multi-sport organizations
 Responsible for more than 1 form of SPA
 Example = gezinssport Vlaanderen, SPORTA, BOIC

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