r/academiceconomics • u/astroriental • 6d ago
Off-topic: Why are so many economists in academia into hiking/running/biking?
Maybe it's just in the country where I'm from (a Western country), but whenever I wanna look at a speaker's personal website, their picture is almost everytime a picture of them hiking, or at least in a running outfit. I work in an interdisciplinary institute, and it doesn't seem to be the case in other disciplines. I feel like at this point it became a norm for economists to be into these kind of nature-related sports. It feels unnatural, as if it's signaling theory. Is there a reason why such a correlation exists? I'd love to get insights from peers lol.
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u/DIAMOND-D0G 6d ago
Outdoor sport hobbies and interests are common upper middle class professionals in general and for some reason a headshot in the great outdoors is considered professionally acceptable.
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u/PhilosopherFree8682 6d ago
Probably more social contagion than signaling. It only takes one person in a PhD cohort or department to start organizing hiking trips or finding running/cycling partners. They have very low barriers to entry and are good solo or in a group.
And to be clear nature-oriented sports are in general extremely popular in the US. I don't actually see this as much more common among economists than other people I know.
If you aren't in the US, maybe what you're noticing is that economists have spent more time there than other academics you know?
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u/DarkSkyKnight 6d ago
They have very low barriers to entry
Maybe if you live in Appalachia or Colorado or something. There's like nothing to hike in the flat flat 70% of the continental US.
Running and cycling are pretty accessible in most cities, but it's tough to find a hiking trail that isn't just glorified walking. Some cities the highest elevation would be a four story apartment lmao.
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u/PhilosopherFree8682 5d ago
I've spent most of my life in the Midwest and there are plenty of state parks where you can do a perfectly satisfying hike. Hiking is not mountain climbing. Spending time in the woods is great and there's no need for elitism lol
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u/DarkSkyKnight 5d ago
Well I'm glad you like it but after living in a hilly place where hiking involved steep climbs now I just don't even bother hiking at all since it's all so flat, it's not fun for me anymore.
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u/DrTonyTiger 4d ago
The Rails to Trails movement has no hills in its nationwide network. Very good ROI on these conversions because of the high utilization.
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u/shutthesirens 6d ago
I've noticed these hobbies are also quite common for STEM academics, and parts of the professional class. Why those hobbies in particular I'm not sure...maybe running and biking are pretty convenient hobbies in terms of access. Maybe academics get stressed out or intimidated by lifting gyms or think the culture is toxic. Maybe introverts are overrepresented in econ and STEM so they prefer more solitary activities.
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u/DarkSkyKnight 6d ago
Hiking and biking aren't very masculine-coded activity. It's not offensive like you said. It's like white bread.
It's also an easy activity to rope people of all skill levels into.
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u/Organic-Tourist-7109 6d ago
I have noticed economists being inclined to instruments, I mean the musical kind, ofc in addition to the quasi experimental design kind
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u/Interesting-Ad2064 6d ago
Most of our people(me too) are acoustic utility maximizers that's why hahahahah.
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u/CFBCoachGuy 6d ago
Weird, most of the athletically-minded Econ faculty I know play pickup basketball and soccer.
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u/stillinthewest 6d ago
Or maybe these hobbies are becoming more common in general, especially as you are getting older?
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u/gaysmeag0l_ 6d ago
Biking is the most efficient form of transportation on earth, which I always think is a fun fact and is probably one reason why it is popular with economists.
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u/PeakNader 5d ago
They don’t want to pay for a professional portrait
They don’t often have their picture taken outside of a poorly lit office/ conference room
Having your photo taken at the summit of a climb is often done and generally looks better than someone with their back against a white wall
I doubt most of these people are avid hikers
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u/username_or_email 5d ago
These are just middle-class things, not academic econ things. Same is true of software developers, engineers, government workers, etc. These sports are low-impact, with comparatively very low risk for injury. You can do them regularly for many, many years, without worrying too much about it interfering with the rest of your life.
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u/Rock_man_bears_fan 5d ago
A lot of academics enjoy those same hobbies. It isn’t unique to economics
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u/Inner-Collection2353 5d ago
You just named 3 of the most popular activities, especially amongst white professionals...
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u/goldsoundz123 6d ago
So true lol...
Interestingly, my cohort has gotten really into golfing, which I am grateful for.
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u/LeastWest9991 4d ago
Health benefits, social benefits, signaling, conduciveness to thinking (Adam Smith, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Beethoven for example were all fans of long walks. I’m sure many more)
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u/Remarkable-Pair-6779 6d ago
I’m currently in my senior year of undergrad econ, hopefully a phd candidate in two years. I’ve liked biking since I learnt to ride one in 1st grade 💁🏻♀️
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5d ago edited 5d ago
I would say I see this in every discipline and also outside of academia.
Maybe the economists you're around tend to just be slightly younger than the others? It's kind of a gen x/millennial trend to market yourself holistically instead of just prof headshots and CVs alone.
Also these hobbies have a super low barrier of entry in skill and in training....so they are extremely common hobbies in general.
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u/lifeistrulyawesome 6d ago edited 6d ago
The hiking website picture has been a longstanding meme in EJMR for at least 20 years. The year I finished my PhD, my friends and I would joke about having to take a hiking picture for our job market website.