nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2016‒11‒20
two papers chosen by
João Carlos Correia Leitão
Universidade da Beira Interior

  1. In-group and Out-group Biases in the Marketplace: A Field Experiment during the World Cup By Sang-Hyun Kim; Fernanda L. Lopez de Leon
  2. Do Women give up Competing more easily? Evidence from the Lab and the Dutch Math Olympiad By Thomas Buser; Huaiping Yuan

  1. By: Sang-Hyun Kim (University of East Anglia); Fernanda L. Lopez de Leon (University of Kent)
    Abstract: We investigate the effects of group identity on discrimination by conducting an audit study in electronics markets in Sao Paulo, Brazil during the 2014 Brazil World Cup (WC). To manipulate the visibility of buyers? group membership we made them wear shirts of national football teams, and exploit the outcomes of the WC matches, which arguably affected the salience of sellers?group identity. Although we ?nd that foreigners are overcharged, we do not detect discrimination against buyers wearing a rival team shirt. In contrast, we do detect in-group market favouritism (i.e., lower prices) towards buyers wearing the Brazil shirt when Brazil had won a match in the very recent past. Our analysis rejects the explanation that sellers?behaviour were always motivated by economic pro?ts. Instead, the results indicate taste-based discrimination (Becker, 1957) and shed light on the ways in which in-group and out-group biases occur in market outcomes.
    Keywords: in-group and out-group discrimination, bargaining in the marketplace
    JEL: C93 D71 J15
    Date: 2016–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yon:wpaper:2016rwp-100&r=spo
  2. By: Thomas Buser (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands); Huaiping Yuan (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
    Abstract: We conduct three lab experiments and use field data from the Dutch Math Olympiad to study how the gender gap in willingness to compete evolves in response to experience. The main result is that women are more likely than men to stop competing if they lose. In the Dutch Math Olympiad, this means that girls who do not make the top 1000, and therefore do not advance to the next round, are less likely to compete again one year later while there is no effect on boys. In an additional experiment, we show that men are more likely than women to start and keep competing after receiving positive feedback. In a third experiment, we show that the gender difference in the reaction to losing is not present when winning and losing are random rather than the outcome of competition. The fact that women are more likely to give up competing after a setback may help to explain why fewer women make it to the top in business and academia.
    Keywords: willingness to compete; gender; feedback; career decisions; laboratory experiment
    JEL: C91 D03 J01 J16
    Date: 2016–11–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20160096&r=spo

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