The Relationship Between the Growth of Health Amenities and Human Capital : A study examining the relationship between the growth of health amenities and the share of high human capital individuals in the Swedish municipalities

Sammanfattning: Despite the well-known benefits associated with physical activity, the lack of physical exercise has risen to become one of the most severe health-related problems of the 21st century. Previous studies have found a good health profile and frequent engagement in physical activities to be positively correlated with productivity and mental well-being. Thus, it is of interest for the municipalities to better the health of their inhabitants. The accessibility of health-encouraging facilities, goods, and services have been discovered to be positively related to health and physical exercise. Hence, it is of interest to the municipalities to understand what drives the growth of these amenities. Especially considering that it is easier for municipalities to affect the accessibility of health amenities on a municipal level than changing lifestyle habits on an individual level.The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the growth of “health amenities”, defined as amenities encouraging a healthy lifestyle, is related to the share of high human capital individuals in the Swedish municipalities. To examine this relationship, this paper inspects the percentage change of employees within these establishments across the Swedish municipalities between 2010-2019 through a series of OLS regressions. The results indicate that the growth of health amenities is positively correlated to the share of high human capital individuals in the Swedish municipalities which confirms the hypothesis of this paper.