nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2014‒01‒17
one paper chosen by
Joao Carlos Correia Leitao
Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa

  1. Globalized Market for Talents and Inequality: What Can Be Learnt from European Football? By Chrysovalantis VASILAKIS

  1. By: Chrysovalantis VASILAKIS (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES))
    Abstract: This paper takes advantage of the availability of rich panel data on the mobility of talented football players, and the performances of national leagues and teams to quantify the effect of the reduction in mobility restrictions, the 1995 Bosman rule, on global efficiency and cross-country inequality in football. I built a micro-founded model endogenizing migration decisions, inequality and training; I estimated its structural parameters; and I used numerical simulations to compare actual data with a counterfactual no-Bosman trajectory. I found that the Bosman rule (i) increased global efficiency in football by 20% (ii) increased cross-leagues inequality in performance by 25% in terms of output, and (iii) decreased inequality across national teams by 70% .Countries from Africa, South (except Argentina and Brazil) and Central America have produced more talents and benefitted from brain-gain type effects. My results also show that this brain-gain mechanism is the major source of efficiency gains. However, it plays only a minor role in explaining the rising inequality.
    Keywords: International Migration, Brain Drain, Globalization, Inequality, European Football
    JEL: F22 J61
    Date: 2014–01–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2014001&r=spo

This nep-spo issue is ©2014 by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.