| Abstract: |
We use the locational pattern of clubs in four major professional football
leagues in Europe to test the causal effect of changes in premier league
membership on regional employment and output growth at the NUTS 3 level. We
rely on the relegation mode of the classical round-robin tournament in the
European model of sport to develop a regression-discontinuity design. The
results indicate small and significant negative short-term effects on regional
employment and output in the sports-related economic sector when clubs are
relegated from the premier division of the respective football league. In
addition, we find small negative effects on overall regional employment
growth. However, total regional gross value added remains unaffected,
indicating that in the main it is the less productive jobs that disappear in
the short-term. |