Advances in Sports Economics
Edited by Robert Butler
Description
How do we identify the impact of superstar players? Do referees display any bias? What has happened to competitive balance? Why do players move so freely in today’s labour market? Do rule-changes influence behaviour? How effective are incentives in encouraging players to exert maximum effort? The data that professional sport generates, which is unparalleled in any other industry, provides a wealth of information to which economists can bring their analytic toolkit to answer these questions and to better understand the mechanics of professional sport.
Advances in Sports Economics is a wide-ranging collection of newly commissioned essays that examines the multifaceted field of sports economics in baseball, basketball, cricket, football, Gaelic games, horse racing, rugby and tennis. Both at the professional and amateur level, sport offers economists the opportunity to study the behaviour, choices and outcomes of decisions of players and referees as well as regulators and governments.
The contributors range across questions of incentives, rule changes, labour issues, competition structure, gambling, gender equality, match official behaviour and funding to explore the variety of applications that economic analysis can bring to the field.
Contents
1. A brief history of the economics of sport Robert Butler
2. Methods and theories commonly applied in sports economics Robert Simmons
3. Economics, analytics and decisions: some insights from professional team sports on the importance of context Bill GerrardPart I Team sports 4. Introduction to the economics of major league baseball Rodney Fort
5. Understanding the NBA through the lens of economic research Alex Cardazzi and Brad R. Humphreys
6. The economics of Association Football David Butler and Robert Butler
Part II English “bat and ball” sports 7. It’s just not cricket: rules and the gentleman’s game James Reade, Carl Singleton and Sarah Jewell
8. Incentive effects: assessing effort and heterogeneity in professional tennis Ferdi Botha and Byron Chadwick
9. The rise of T20 and the Indian Premier League Patrick Massey
Part III Horse racing and sports betting 10. The peculiar economics of horse racing David Forrest
11. Economic issues of horse racing in Ireland Tracy Bradfield, Robert Butler and Thia Hennessy
12. All jockeys are equal but some jockeys are more equal than others Vanessa Cashmore
13. The economics of sports betting and sports betting in economics Julio del Corral and Carlos Gomez-Gonzalez
Part V Refereeing 14. On and off-field behaviour of match officials in professional team sports Peter Dawson, Patrick Massey and Paul Downward
15. Do umpires prefer blonds (and other noticeable types) to take Charlie home? Liam J. A. Lenten
Part VI Indigenous football 16. Playing senior inter-county Gaelic games: the time commitments given and consequences Elish Kelly
17. Comparing tie breaker modes in an alternate Australia football league draft-pick allocation policy Noel Boys and Liam J. A. Lenten
Part VII Economics of sports funding 18. Public finance and sport John Considine
19. Spatial distribution and sports infrastructure John Eakins
Author Information
Robert Butler is Lecturer in Economics and Director of the Centre for Sports Economics and Law at University College Cork.
