nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2014‒06‒02
five papers chosen by
Joao Carlos Correia Leitao
Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa

  1. Heterogeneous sports participation and labour market outcomes in England By Downward, Paul; Lechner, Michael
  2. Labor market effects of sports and exercise: Evidence from Canadian panel data By Lechner, Michael; Sari, Nazmi
  3. What Happens When Employers are Free to Discriminate? Evidence from the English Barclays Premier Fantasy Football League By Bryson, Alex; Chevalier, Arnaud
  4. Children’s skill formation in less developed countries – The impact of sports participation By Pawlowski, Tim; Schüttoff, Ute; Downward, Paul; Lechner, Michael
  5. Gender Differences in Response to Setbacks: Evidence from Professional Tennis By Lauren Banko; Eva Marikova Leeds; Michael A. Leeds

  1. By: Downward, Paul; Lechner, Michael
    Abstract: Based on a unique composite dataset measuring heterogeneous sports participation, labour market outcomes and local facilities provision, this paper examines for the first time the association between different types of sports participation on employment and earnings in England. Clear associations between labour market outcomes and sports participation are established through matching estimation whilst controlling for some important confounding factors. The results suggest a link between different types of sports participation to initial access to employment and then higher income opportunities with ageing. However, these vary between the genders and across sports. Specifically, the results suggest that team sports contribute most to employability, but that this varies by age across genders and that outdoor activities contribute most towards higher in-comes.
    Keywords: Human Capital; Labour Market; Matching Estimation; Sports Participation
    JEL: C21 I12 I18 J24 L83
    Date: 2013–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9701&r=spo
  2. By: Lechner, Michael; Sari, Nazmi
    Abstract: Based on the Canadian National Population Health Survey we estimate the effects of individual sports and exercise on individual labor market outcomes. The data covers the period from 1994 to 2008. It is longitudinal and rich in life-style, health, and physical activity in-formation. Exploiting these features of the data allows for a credible identification of the effects as well as for estimating dose-response relationships. Generally, we confirm previous findings of positive long-run income effects. However, an activity level above the current recommendation of the WHO for minimum physical activity is required to reap in the long-run benefits.
    Keywords: Canadian National Population Health Survey; human capital; individual sports participa¬tion; labor market; matching estimation.; Physical activity
    JEL: C21 I12 I18 J24 L83
    Date: 2014–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9851&r=spo
  3. By: Bryson, Alex (National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)); Chevalier, Arnaud (Royal Holloway, University of London)
    Abstract: Research on employers' hiring discrimination is limited by the unlawfulness of such activity. Consequently, researchers have focused on the intention to hire. Instead, we rely on a virtual labour market, the Fantasy Football Premier League, where employers can freely exercise their taste for racial discrimination in terms of hiring and firing. The setting allows us to eliminate co-worker, consumer-based and statistical discrimination as potential sources of discrimination, thus isolating the effects of taste-based discrimination. We find no evidence of racial discrimination, either in initial hiring or through the season, in a context where employers are fully aware of current and prospective workers' productivity.
    Keywords: race, labour market discrimination, football
    JEL: J15 J23 J24 J71 M51
    Date: 2014–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8177&r=spo
  4. By: Pawlowski, Tim; Schüttoff, Ute; Downward, Paul; Lechner, Michael
    Abstract: Previous research suggests that sports club participation of children in developed countries positively influences the children’s well-being, health as well as human and social capital. We use panel data of a cohort of 1,579 children in Ethiopia and Peru to test these relationships in less developed countries where access to work might be only to manual labor, access to education is more limited and daily-survival activities demand high physical energy. By exploiting the panel structure of our data in a specific way, we suggest that the effects flexibly estimated by propensity score matching are close to having a causal interpretation. The findings suggest that the impact of programs, such as those provided in sport, can have positive developmental impacts for children, for example, on human and social capital, but that the results vary by context.
    Keywords: Social capital, Human capital, Well-being, Health, Group participation, Sports
    JEL: C14 D12 I21 J24
    Date: 2014–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2014:12&r=spo
  5. By: Lauren Banko (Department of Economics, Temple University); Eva Marikova Leeds (Department of Economics and Business, Moravian College); Michael A. Leeds (Department of Economics and Business, Moravian College)
    Abstract: A large experimental literature has arisen that shows significant differences in how men and women respond to economic contests. Non-experimental studies, however, frequently contradict the experimental findings. We use data from the ATP and WTA professional tennis tours (in which all contests are best-of-three matches) to test one prediction of the experimental literature: that women react more negatively to setbacks than men do. Ordered probits show that women who lose the first set are no more likely to lose the match in either straight sets or three sets than men are. Similarly, binomial probits show that women who win the first set but lose the second are no more likely to lose the third than men are. However, we do find that women who do lose in straight sets generally lose by larger margins than men do.
    Keywords: Economic Contests, Sports, Tennis, Setbacks, Gender Differences
    JEL: J16 L83
    Date: 2014–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tem:wpaper:1402&r=spo

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