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on Sports and Economics |
| By: | Matteo Picchio (Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche); Jan C. Van Ours (Erasmus School of Economics and Tinbergen Institute, The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | High temperatures can have a negative effect on work-related activities because workers may experience difficulties concentrating or have to reduce effort in order to cope with heat. We investigate how temperature affects performance of professional tennis players in outdoor singles matches in big tournaments. We find that performance significantly decreases with ambient temperature. This result is robust to including wind speed and air pollution in the analysis. There are no differences between men and women. However, there is some heterogeneity in the magnitude of the temperature effect in other dimensions. In particular, we find that the temperature effect is smaller when there is more at stake. Our findings also suggest that the negative temperature effect is smaller if the heat lasts, i.e. there is some adaptation to high temperatures. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, temperatures, tennis, performance, productivity. |
| JEL: | J24 J81 Q51 Q54 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:484&r=spo |
| By: | Daria Tabashnikova (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Marina Sandomirskaia (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We study single- and double-elimination tournaments with heterogeneous players of two types: regular players and a superstar. Players choose efforts in each match with linear costs, winning with a probability calculated with the Tullock success function. We consider several designer maximization problems: total efforts, probability of winning the strongest player, and a weighted composed function. We show that a double-elimination tournament is less profitable in most cases, except when the tournament organizer is concerned about the probability that the superstar wins the tournament. |
| Keywords: | single-elimination tournament, double-elimination tournament, tournament design, heterogeneous players, superstar |
| JEL: | C72 D47 Z20 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:263/ec/2023&r=spo |
| By: | Florian Englmaier (LMU Munich); Stefan Grimm (LMU Munich); Dominik Grothe (LMU Munich); David Schindler (Tilburg University); Simeon Schudy (LMU Munich) |
| Abstract: | Tournaments are often used to improve performance in innovation contexts. Tournaments provide monetary incentives but also render teams' identity and image concerns salient. We study the effects of tournaments on team performance in a non-routine task and identify the importance of these behavioral aspects. In a field experiment (n>1, 700 participants), we vary the salience of team identity, social image concerns, and whether teams face monetary incentives. Increased salience of team identity does not improve performance. Social image motivates the top performers. Additional monetary incentives improve all teams' outcomes without crowding out teams' willingness to explore or perform similar tasks again. |
| Keywords: | team work; tournaments; rankings; incentives; identity; image concerns; innovation; exploration; natural field experiment; |
| JEL: | C93 D90 J24 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2023–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:445&r=spo |
| By: | Ziemba, William T. |
| Abstract: | This survey discusses the state of the art in research in racetrack and lottery investment markets. Market efficiency and the pricing of various wagers are studied along with new developments since the Thaler & Ziemba (1988) review. The weak form inefficient market pricing approach using stochastic programming optimization models changed racetrack betting from handicapping to a financial market allowing professional syndicates to operate as hedge funds. Topics discussed include arbitrage and risk arbitrage, syndicates, betting exchange rebates, behavioral biases, and fundamental and mispricing information in racetrack and lottery markets. Similar models can be used to successfully trade stock market anomalies. Supplemental Materials are included online. |
| Keywords: | pari-mutuel betting markets; efficiency of racetrack betting markets; stochastic programming optimization models; lottery strategies; favorite-longshot bias |
| JEL: | C02 C50 C79 D81 G11 G14 |
| Date: | 2023–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120846&r=spo |