nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2025–10–06
three papers chosen by
Humberto Barreto, DePauw University
  1. Medal Factories: Why Do Some Countries Outperform in Sports and Science? By Ruchir Agarwal; Patrick Gaule; Seungeun Lee
  2. Round-Robin Tournaments in the Lab: Lottery Contests vs. All-Pay Auctions By Lauber, Arne; March, Christoph; Sahm, Marco
  3. L’événement, un Ba au service des communautés de fans : espace de création et de partage des connaissances By Aude Ducroquet; Marie-Charlotte Della Monta
  1. By: Ruchir Agarwal; Patrick Gaule; Seungeun Lee
    Abstract: This paper studies the determinants of elite performance in international Science Olympiads and Olympic sports, focusing on the roles of population size and income. It finds three main results: - First, population and income explain about 50% of the variation in country performance across both science and sports competitions. - Second, several countries, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, consistently underperform their predicted rankings, indicating that other factors may play a crucial role in fostering elite talent. - Third, there is a moderately high correlation between performance in the Science Olympiads and the Summer Olympics, suggesting that common and deeper, unexplained influences drive success across both domains. Overall, our results suggest that there is significant scope for several developing countries to improve how they utilize their talent pools. Future work needs to explore why this underperformance is concentrated in certain regions, with the explanation likely lying in factors beyond traditional economic indicators.
    Date: 2025–07
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gtf:wpaper:2501
  2. By: Lauber, Arne; March, Christoph; Sahm, Marco
    JEL: C72 C91 D72 Z20
    Date: 2025
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc25:325407
  3. By: Aude Ducroquet; Marie-Charlotte Della Monta (GRANEM - Groupe de Recherche Angevin en Economie et Management - UA - Université d'Angers - Institut Agro Rennes Angers - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement)
    Abstract: Cet article analyse le rôle des événements dans les écosystèmes de connaissances en mobilisant le concept de Ba et les travaux sur les Field Configuring Events. A travers une étude de cas unique (Angers Geekfest), nous expliquerons comment un événement, à travers la combinaison d'espaces physiques et virtuels favorise la création et l'échange de connaissances au sein de communautés de fans.
    Keywords: connaissances, Field Configuring Events, événement, cyber Ba, Communautés de fans
    Date: 2025–06–11
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05231840
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