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Ability, Age, and Performance

Conclusions From the Ironman Triathlon World Championship

Berea College

Wm. Stewart Mounts, Jr.

Mercer University

A person’s age is used in many ways in economic decisions due to the belief that it is a low cost proxy for ability. Even with this importance assigned to age, however, little economic research has investigated the underlying relationship between age and output. Our purpose is to consider this relationship using data from the Ironman Triathlon World Championship. Our findings indicate that men age faster than the rates estimated by others. Also, unlike other studies, these data allow inferences to be drawn about the linkage between age and ability for women. We find that women age only slightly faster than men, showing some relative increase in aging in later years. At younger ages, however, women appear more responsive to training and maturation (forms of human capital investment) than young men.

Key Words: age • ability • performance • triathlon • frontier estimation

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